Comments on: Whopperjawed

By: Theresa

Theresa — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 15:50:35 +0000

I grew up in South Central PA near Lancaster and we use this word. In fact, I used it today and someone from the NYC metro area had no idea what it meant. We pronounced it ‘whopperjawed’ meaning askew. ‘The thermos lid got all whopperjawed and now I cannot get it off.’

I have also heard it used in reference to people such as ‘don’t go getting all whopperjawed on me’ meaning don’t become askew or off balance.

Interesting that it seems to be most common in places where there are Amish – PA, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois. Although I think I heard it reading Mark Twain’s books and letters. I loved the word as a onomatopoeia that conveys it’s meaning by sounding crooked.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 22:23:54 +0000

When I was groing up my grand parents lived in a small southern town called clarkton, where they used words like whopperjawed. When I asked them they explained to ke that it ment crooked or, if you were referring to a person, queer. So I have no idea what the person you heard meant but there are several variations and definitions of the word whopperjawed so I reckon she meant don’t get all queer (or crooked) on me. :)

By: DY

DY — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:14:15 +0000

(From SC Kansas, from someone who comes originally from NW Missouri)I stuck a bunch of candy “Whoppers” in my jaw and asked a coworker, “What’s this?”. Then told her I was “Whopperjawed”. In response I got a blank, “what the heck are talking about” stare. She’d never heard of the term. I explained that it meant askew or out of line. Then I started searching online to make sure I wasn’t using it incorrectly. That’s how I wound up here.

By: Chris Cook

Chris Cook — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 19:25:00 +0000

From Texas…parents used to say it all the time. I thought it was a white country thing. It means its crooked.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Mon, 09 May 2011 19:14:00 +0000

In the deep southeastern US it is most decidedly pronounced with an ‘m’, as “whomperjawed” or even “whumperjawed”. The meaning is akin to catawampus (or caddywhompus or cattywhumpus) and I’ve always heard it used in the same way. Maybe that’s where the ‘m’ sound comes in, from the tie with catawampus?

By: RJ

RJ — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:52:56 +0000

And by the way, we pronounced it “whopperjawed.” (No ‘m’)

By: RJ

RJ — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:50:36 +0000

I grew up in southwestern Ohio, and the word was used all the time in my family to mean that something was out-of alignment, warped, uneven, off-kilter, lopsided, off-center, or otherwise not positioned (or built) “correctly,” relative to an established norm. This was especially true, as was mentioned in the Word Detective’s response above, when the defect resulted in two component pieces not fitting together properly, as in carpentry. But I never heard it used to describe people, only things.

By: h.s. gudnason

h.s. gudnason — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 11:26:10 +0000

I learned the word during a Gothic language class from someone who grew up in central Indiana. No idea how the subject arose.

By: Owen Lorion

Owen Lorion — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 07:47:54 +0000

Growing up in Oregon in the 50s and 60s, I recall “all whopperjawed” being used, along with thingamajiggy and such, as one of those inexact terms used for things that probably have a name, but you don’t know or can’t remember what it is. Usually it referred to something being decidedly lopsided in some hard to describe way, but I vaguely recall it also being used to refer to the jaws of a plumber’s wrench when they couldn’t line up properly because of obstructions.