# Best way to say I'm Improvising a Half Assed Fix for a problem **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 26, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597 "2010-06-26T14:16:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/41 "2010-06-27T16:54:35Z")
I don’t think I have ever heard in converstation, nor seen in print, the terms used in the OP. 48 y.o., born and raised in Maryland. It may not be an “attack” on people of color, but I can’t believe it was ever an acceptable term. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/42 "2010-06-27T16:59:10Z")
Among older workers in northern New England, the term is “Frenched-up rig”. La Belle Provence is just north of the border, probably has something to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/43 "2010-06-27T17:24:17Z")
I might say Mickey Moused. Or Kludge. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/44 "2010-06-27T19:12:38Z")
What’s the matter with saying “I’m Improvising a Half Assed Fix for a problem”, hmm? Seems like the best way to say it, to me. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/45 "2010-06-28T03:50:27Z")
I’ve always used jerry rigged and I don’t know the meaning of it. And as a timely addition to the thread I just jerry rigged the light back on my trailer to get it home. How the hell it got smashed I don’t know. I love working in the dark while it’s raining. Note to self, put the tool kit back in the trunk. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/46 "2010-06-28T15:20:32Z")
> [@mo50](#): > > Close enough for jazz. 😉 This is mine. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/47 "2010-06-28T15:30:57Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Common use and acceptability are two different things. Really? Can you elaborate upon the differences? What does “acceptable” mean if not “acceptable to most people”? A term may not be acceptable today, but if it was in common use in the past it was certainly acceptable then. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/48 "2010-06-28T15:37:29Z")
Other: A “Kludge” ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/49 "2010-06-28T15:38:09Z")
Another vote for “MacGyvered”. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/50 "2010-06-28T15:46:35Z")
I don’t use it, **outlierrn** , but I’m in love with gonzo maintenance. I’ll be looking for opportunities to use it in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/51 "2010-06-28T17:02:19Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I don’t think I have ever heard in converstation, nor seen in print, the terms used in the OP. 48 y.o., born and raised in Maryland. > It may not be an “attack” on people of color, but I can’t believe it was ever an acceptable term. Of course it’s an attack on people of color, since it equates them with shoddy workmanship. It would only be acceptable to people who don’t mind being (and sounding) bigoted. My father had a variety of ethnically derogatory terms of this type that he used when I was little (he stopped later because he knew it was no longer the thing to do, but I don’t know if he had any real change of heart). One I remember is “Mexican steam shovel”, which is – a shovel. Yeah, let’s go out of our way and pronounce several extra syllables in order to demean a nation of people. Anyway, to answer the part of the OP that isn’t offensive to large numbers of people, I might say jury-rigged, but more likely is “cobbled together” possibly with “spit and a string”. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/52 "2010-06-28T17:05:22Z")
Just for the record, I voted “other”, thinking of “kludge”, which I certainly have heard used for meatspace applications. Then again, I refer to physical junk mail as “spam”, so I might be a bit of an outlier. ---
**Author:** ![Redwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@Redwing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redwing)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/53 "2010-06-28T17:25:14Z")
It depends on what the source of the shoddiness is. If it’s something fixed with improvised materials, but the work itself isn’t bad, then it was jury-rigged. If it’s just shitty work, than it’s slapped together. You can certainly slap a jury-rig together, but I don’t know of a single term that covers both the improvisation and the sloppiness. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/54 "2010-06-28T17:58:13Z")
I vacillate between “MacGuyvered” and “A-Teamed” it. I watched too much TV as a kid, clearly. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/55 "2010-06-28T18:37:28Z")
Grew up in Philadephia, PA, USA. _Nigger rigged_ growing up, replaced by\* jury rigged\* so as not to offend and/or be ignorant. Boss from the south says _jerry rigged_. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/56 "2010-06-28T21:40:37Z")
I use jury-rigged and jerry-rigged fairly interchangeably. When I was programming, I’d refer to a particularly icky bit of work that I threw together because I was running out of time as a hack job. Doing something “eh, good enough” is also referred to in my family as a [mother’s maiden name] job. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/57 "2010-07-01T05:31:13Z")
Is it possible that we are talking about two separate things here? A. Someone puts a lawnmower under a car hub to drive around = a horribly crappy solution to a problem. B. Can’t think of an example, but someone comes up with a solution to a problem that is not only way outside the box, but also efficacious and reasonably safe. McGyver? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/58 "2010-07-01T15:27:55Z")
Nitpick: MacGyver. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/59 "2010-07-01T15:45:24Z")
Nitpick: **Angus** MacGyver 😃 ---
**Author:** ![snowmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@snowmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowmaster)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597/60 "2010-07-01T16:03:54Z")
Potemkin Engineering: To Mickey-rig something together with popsicle sticks, bailing wire and duct tape in order to present the appearance of a proper repair or functionality. See also: Functionable: Able to functrion, but doesn’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-say-im-improvising-a-half-assed-fix-for-a-problem/544597.md?page=4)