While in the course of editing the "Dying Embers" manuscript I have indeed learned something new. Namely the difference between jury-rigged and jerry-rigged.
Actually I should put forth that jerry-rigged itself is a fairly new word to me as I am sure I have heard it before but didn't notice it all that much assuming it meant jury-rigged.
Now JURY-rigged I was very familiar with. My meticulous and nearly super-humanly skilled father could jury-rig a working schooner out of an oak nail barrel, an old bed sheet, and a roll of construction twine. My mom loved to talk about how good he was at it.
It means simply that a working unit was fashioned out of parts not originally intended for that use. Usually under conditions where speed is of the essence and the real materials are not available.
JERRY-rigged I was not so familiar with, although the concept the word describes was also in plentiful abundance in my youth. My hyper creative artist mother could slap together a working "greenhouse" out of the most dilapidated scrap one could imagine. It would look wondrous and artistic for all of fifteen minutes before scumming to the odd super-entropy field she seemed to generate.
Jerry-rigged meaning that the unit in question is made of sub-par materials and put together with questionable skill. I probably never heard that word because whenever my dad would see my mom's creations he just got quiet while that vein twitched in his forehead.
"Yes dear, that is very nice. I'm just going to go rent a dumpster for the fun of it now."
So remember:
Macgyver can jury-rig a space ship with a paperclip.
That space ship the Ferengi just sold you is probably jerry-rigged.
Actually I should put forth that jerry-rigged itself is a fairly new word to me as I am sure I have heard it before but didn't notice it all that much assuming it meant jury-rigged.
Now JURY-rigged I was very familiar with. My meticulous and nearly super-humanly skilled father could jury-rig a working schooner out of an oak nail barrel, an old bed sheet, and a roll of construction twine. My mom loved to talk about how good he was at it.
It means simply that a working unit was fashioned out of parts not originally intended for that use. Usually under conditions where speed is of the essence and the real materials are not available.
JERRY-rigged I was not so familiar with, although the concept the word describes was also in plentiful abundance in my youth. My hyper creative artist mother could slap together a working "greenhouse" out of the most dilapidated scrap one could imagine. It would look wondrous and artistic for all of fifteen minutes before scumming to the odd super-entropy field she seemed to generate.
Jerry-rigged meaning that the unit in question is made of sub-par materials and put together with questionable skill. I probably never heard that word because whenever my dad would see my mom's creations he just got quiet while that vein twitched in his forehead.
"Yes dear, that is very nice. I'm just going to go rent a dumpster for the fun of it now."
So remember:
Macgyver can jury-rig a space ship with a paperclip.
That space ship the Ferengi just sold you is probably jerry-rigged.
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