Thursday Word: tapsalteerie

[bethctg]

tapsalteerie (adjective, adverb, noun)
ˈtæpsəlˈtiːrɪ

• topsy-turvy

etymology: Scottish; C17: of uncertain origin

example:
I've turned the house tapsalteerie and I still can’t find that book.”

Comments

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Nice! The Scots have a lot of interesting words.

[calzephyr]

I came here to echo that sentiment :-)

[full_metal_ox]

Scottish blogger Katrina of Pining for the West offers her 2p on the subject:

Good old Mr Hudson, the Scottish butler was exasperated by everything and he said “Everything’s tapsalteerie today,” meaning everything’s upside down. I don’t know if it was because I was just listening to it but it came to me that the word must derive from topsail and so it originally meant that the topsail was at the bottom or certainly not where it should be on a ship if all is well.

Source: https://piningforthewest.co.uk/2012/04/22/scottish-words-tapsalteerie/