"Kittywompus" Word of the Year?

[freestate]

First of all, I gotta thank Steve for introducing the word "kittywompus" to me thru his blog. I don't know how I've lived life without hearing that before.

Recently, it seems there's been a rash of kittywompus. First The Sock and now Ban Me Please

This is a pretty big spike from last year when there was only one use of kittywompus: How to get banned

Sure, this is a strange observation, but it jumped out at me. I forecast we'll be seeing more of this great word. If it reaches 5 uses this year, I propose it be the StevePavlina.com word of the year.

[Ecce Homo]

Well I don't know if I'm ready to christen it word of the year, but I think I'll use it as the word of the day here in my office. In my unofficial correspondance, kittywompus will be used as frequently as I can get away with.

Thanks for the inspiration! I'm sure my co-workers will want to thank you as well!

[lasti]

Could maybe someone try to explain to me what it means?

[Erin Pavlina]

When things go kittywompus it just means that things have gone awry, or not as they are supposed to, or are all messed up, tangled, knotted, out of control.

[freestate]

Erin, when did you first hear this word? Did you know about it in your childhood or did you find out later?

Such a fun word to say.

[Trezker]

I give this thread a 1 in 3 chance of going kittywompus.

[Erin Pavlina]

I first heard the word from my Human Factors professor, Dr. Sanders. He would say things like, "Turn in your dealie jobs" (that was homework) and he would say, "We were at the nuclear power plant and things got Kittywompus real fast."

So I credit him with introducing it to me, and then I brought it to Steve.

[Savage]

Nice to know that kittywompus was used to describe conditions at a nuclear power plant.

[freestate]

Thanks for filling us in, Erin!

I wonder if there has to be a meltdown before a nuclear powerplant officially goes kittywompus.

[Adrienne]

We have a cat who lots to jump on you and attack then snuggle (which is alot like the youngest kid ) and we call him kittywompus all the time. I honestly cant remember how i learned that word, i think it has been in my vocab since i was a kid..
because it is not used that often, whenever i hear it i think of the kids and cats and it always makes me smile. I did really enjoy when Steve used it.

[NickW]

"Kittywompus" is an oldie. I first heard the word over 20-yrs ago, on a Bob and Ray tape my uncle had recorded in the 1950s.

From The Word Detective:
Issue of October 28, 2005
"As for "kittywompus," no one else is sure of the spelling either, and the word is also often spelled "cattywampus," "caddywompous," "catawampus" (which is the spelling preferred by most dictionaries), as well as about a dozen other ways. "Catawampus," which dates to the 19th century, actually has two distinct meanings (and may, in fact, be two distinct words): as a noun, "a fierce and destructive creature" (possibly drawn from "catamount," an American folk term for a mountain lion), and, as an adjective, "askew, jumbled up." This second meaning may be related to "catercorner" (or "kittycorner"), meaning "diagonally across from" (from the French "quatre," meaning "four," as in "four-cornered"). "