{"id":3850,"date":"2025-03-22T11:48:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T11:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=3850"},"modified":"2025-03-22T11:49:53","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T11:49:53","slug":"adventures-in-etymology-haywire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?p=3850","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in Etymology &#8211; Haywire"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Adventures in Etymology &amp;#8211; Haywire\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2025-03-22T11:48:00+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT1M51S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"Haywire is wire used to bind bales of hay, and can also refer to something that's roughly-made, erratic or uncontrollable. How are these meanings related? Let's find out in this Adventure in Etymology.\n\n\n\nAs a noun, haywire [\u02c8he\u026a.wa\u026a.\u0259(\u0279) \/ \u02c8he\u026a.wa\u026a\u025a...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/haywire.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2.0\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_8620\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-3850-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/haywire.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/haywire.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/haywire.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/haywire.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=3850-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/haywire.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"haywire.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p><strong>Haywire<\/strong> is wire used to bind bales of hay, and can also refer to something that&#8217;s roughly-made, erratic or uncontrollable. How are these meanings related? Let&#8217;s find out in this Adventure in Etymology.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/borninyork\/7139506141\/in\/photolist-bSTQrt-2jWXLYw-2k8prSq-6thVHJ-2kV4ZrU-2mKJpKJ-6thVYW-5yzBN7-PGxHTd-8siT57-cDcceG-WVwx1Y-24D9cXX-67VWoS-67RKcv-dVYhdP-znvXnD-2jr8DM2-MTwfob-67RL6M-7cJ5SG-2kG7iPW-fD1imr-LAdT3r-2qxqP9C-28evFyh-2qcrPtM-RZjC3b-ekNHpv-a2a2Lw-2NRQH8-9qvm7E-6c4veb-4KeXbz-RGaGbt-2qfLGPe-2fmY5V-GzJZR5-GKM8dw-8KTRut-5NkUV8-QGmnD4-nDhAQW-nHgGKz-oqEWLx-6nQvFZ-oozSrY-cJr4g9-noQz36-qTtt4M\" title=\"Baling twine repair\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/7255\/7139506141_404070ed56_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"422\" alt=\"Baling twine repair\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As a noun, <strong>haywire<\/strong> [\u02c8he\u026a.wa\u026a.\u0259(\u0279) \/ \u02c8he\u026a.wa\u026a\u025a] means wire used for binding bales of hay, straw or grass, and is also known as bale wire, baling wire, farm wire or soft wire.<\/p>\n<p>As an adjective, <strong>haywire<\/strong> means roughly-made, unsophisticated, decrepit, or behaviorally erratic or uncontrollable, especially when referring to machines and mechanical processes.<\/p>\n<p>As a verb, <strong>to haywire<\/strong> means to attach or fix with haywire, and <strong>to go haywire<\/strong> means to become wildly confused, out of control, or mentally unbalanced.  [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/go_haywire#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Originally <strong>haywire<\/strong> meant likely to become tangled unpredictably or unusably, or fall apart, as if bound by the soft springy wire used to bind hay bales. This usage comes from lumber camps in New England in 1905, when a <strong>haywire outfit<\/strong> was a company that patched up machinery temporarily using haywire rather than fixed it properly [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/haywire\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><iframe name=\"ngram_chart\" src=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/ngrams\/interactive_chart?content=haywire&#038;year_start=1800&#038;year_end=2019&#038;corpus=en&#038;smoothing=3\" width=900 height=500 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 hspace=0 vspace=0 frameborder=0 scrolling=no><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The expression <strong>to go haywire<\/strong>, which first appeared in writing in the 1920s, represents something held together or repaired with haywire falling apart or behaving unpredicatbly, or something that has gone wrong or is no good. As haywire tends to whip itself into wild and unruly tangles when cut, this meaning makes sense [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.phrases.org.uk\/meanings\/go-haywire.html\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>You can also listen to this podcast on: <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/gb\/podcast\/radio-omniglot\/id1432641094\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/podcasts\/8b1b1d1b-b39e-4277-b28d-479a3b5043b3\/radio-omniglot\">Amazon Music<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/tunein.com\/podcasts\/Education-Podcasts\/Radio-Omniglot-p1154145\/\">TuneIn<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.podchaser.com\/podcasts\/radio-omniglot-716327\">Podchaser<\/a>, <a href=\"<a href=\"https:\/\/podbay.fm\/p\/radio-omniglot\">Podbay<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/podtail.com\/da\/podcast\/radio-omniglot\/\">Podtail<\/a> and other pod places.<\/p>\n<p>If you would like to support this podcast, you can make a donation via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/uk\/cgi-bin\/webscr?cmd=_flow&amp;SESSION=aLjPfXL-vP_1gQ_U23Iz8_hSWLlhzLHPMFZrt32dIEfG8htoNFLYaPoWkv8&amp;dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8def8934b92a630e40b7fef61ab7e9fe63\">PayPal<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/omniglot\">Patreon<\/a>, or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/donations.htm\">contribute to Omniglot in other ways<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with <a href=\"https:\/\/blubrry.com\/services\/podcast-hosting\/?code=omniglot\">Blubrry Podcast Hosting<\/a>, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code <strong>omniglot<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.japanesepod101.com\/member\/go.php?r=759259&amp;i=b0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/banners\/banner_japanesepod.jpg\" alt=\"The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com\" width=\"630\" height=\"83\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I also write about words, etymology and other language-related topics on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/\">Omniglot Blog<\/a>, and I explore etymological connections between Celtic languages on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/\">Celtiadur<\/a> blog.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/my.kualo.com\/uk\/go\/00572\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.kualo.com\/rewards\/uk-unlimited-728x90.gif\" width=\"728\" height=\"90\" border=\"0\"\nalt=\"Unlimited Web Hosting - Kualo\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/AudioObject\"><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Adventures in Etymology &amp;#8211; Haywire\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2025-03-22T11:48:00+00:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"encodingFormat\" content=\"audio\/mpeg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT1M51S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"Haywire is wire used to bind bales of hay, and can also refer to something that's roughly-made, erratic or uncontrollable. How are these meanings related? Let's find out in this Adventure in Etymology.\n\n\n\nAs a noun, haywire [\u02c8he\u026a.wa\u026a.\u0259(\u0279) \/ \u02c8he\u026a.wa\u026a\u025a...\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/haywire.mp3\" \/><meta itemprop=\"contentSize\" content=\"2.0\" \/><div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_8621\"><audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-3850-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/haywire.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/haywire.mp3\">https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/haywire.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\" style=\"margin-bottom: 1px !important;\">Podcast: <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/haywire.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/?powerpress_pinw=3850-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/media.blubrry.com\/radio_omniglot\/www.omniglot.com\/soundfiles\/etymology\/haywire.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"haywire.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p>Haywire is wire used to bind bales of hay, and can also refer to something that&#8217;s roughly-made, erratic or uncontrollable. How are these meanings related? Let&#8217;s find out in this Adventure in Etymology. As a noun, haywire [\u02c8he\u026a.wa\u026a.\u0259(\u0279) \/ \u02c8he\u026a.wa\u026a\u025a] means wire used for binding bales of hay, straw or grass, and is also known [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,20,4,11,1],"tags":[90,218,9,88,8,103],"class_list":["post-3850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures-in-etymology","category-english","category-language","category-music","category-podcast","tag-etymology","tag-haywire","tag-language","tag-omniglot","tag-podcast","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3850"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3852,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3850\/revisions\/3852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/radio\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}