WotD: topsy-turvy

[muckefuck]

1. verkehrtrum
2. averechts, achterstevoren
3. patas arriba
4. damunt davall
5. sens dessus dessous
6. plith-draphlith
7. bunoscionn
8. wywrócony do góry nogami
9. 뒤죽박죽
10. 七顛八倒 qīdiānbādǎo

Comments

[richardthinks.livejournal.com]

I love the Portuguese "com as pernas no ar," to mean thoroughly mixed up or disordered, which one could apply to the sea during a storm.

Topsy-turvy suggests a quite specific condition to me, of Saturnalia-type inversion rather than simple disorder. I see dictionary.com offers both as definitions. How exactly do the matches you've found reflect this?

Literal meanings

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

1. "turned around
2. ?, "back to front"
3. "paws up"
4. "above below"
5. "direction above below"
6. "midst through midst"
7. "arse over tit" (okay, "base over head")
8. "overturned up to the legs"
9. "backrow riprow"
10. "seven totter eight invert"

So in general, the core meaning is "overturned; upside down" and the most common extending meaning is "in disorder". There's not too many which--as far as I can tell--clearly refer to a climate of Misrule. In general, I was trying to match register and onomatopoeic impact more than meaning.

Re: Literal meanings

[areia.livejournal.com]

Averechts means 'not right'. It's used in knitting for the purl stitch; in stockinette stitch (the stitch most people associate with knitted fabric), you knit rechts on the 'right' side, and averechts on the 'wrong' side. It also has meanings like 'against the grain', 'in the wrong direction' and contrary.

This not necessarily reliable source claims that 'ave' meant 'away from' in Middle Dutch.

[gorkabear.livejournal.com]

Otra manera en español: "Manga por hombro"

Una altra en català (sospito que no gaire correcta): "Potes enlaire"