# Jury rigged scaffolding

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jury-rigged-scaffolding/321055>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 11, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jury-rigged-scaffolding/321055 "2005-09-11T03:02:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jury-rigged-scaffolding/321055/21 "2005-09-12T18:42:06Z")

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Because the correct term, of course, is jerry-built. 😃

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jury-rigged-scaffolding/321055/22 "2005-09-12T23:04:02Z")

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> [@Spiff](#):
>
> Because the correct term, of course, is jerry-built. 😃

Both are correct, according to my old 12-pound dictionary.

Jury-rigged is something temporarily built on a ship.

Jerry-built is temporarily made from cheap materials. It is derived from jury-rigged. During WW I and WW II, the “Jerry” part took on an angle of an ethnic insult to Germans.

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**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jury-rigged-scaffolding/321055/23 "2005-09-13T17:40:27Z")

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You are correct, sir.

My comment was designed to point out that some, perhaps most, people use the incorrect term jerry-rigged when they mean either jury rigged or jerry built.

I was being too obligue it seems.

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**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jury-rigged-scaffolding/321055/24 "2005-09-13T18:51:32Z")

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> [@AskNott](#):
>
> Both are correct, according to my old 12-pound dictionary.
> 
> Jury-rigged is something temporarily built on a ship.
> 
> Jerry-built is temporarily made from cheap materials. It is derived from jury-rigged. During WW I and WW II, the “Jerry” part took on an angle of an ethnic insult to Germans.

Jeez, and I have always believed that both versions of the term were derivatives of the French, _du jour_, meaning “for the day,” or temporary.

and now I wonder. xo, C.

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