# So, WAS The "BIG DIG" Jerry-Built From The Start? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 24, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-was-the-big-dig-jerry-built-from-the-start/385437 "2006-12-24T13:52:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-was-the-big-dig-jerry-built-from-the-start/385437/1 "2006-12-24T13:52:31Z")
Read the disgusting details here:[http://www.boston.com/news/traffic/bigdig/articles/2006/12/24/cheaper\_faster\_path\_led\_to\_failure/?page=6](http://www.boston.com/news/traffic/bigdig/articles/2006/12/24/cheaper_faster_path_led_to_failure/?page=6) What this says to me: despite the huge (15 $ billion and counting) amount of money squandered on this disaster, the thing was nickel-and-dimed from the beginning-you have the subcontractors arguing about how to save $50,000-while engineers played fast and loose with safety. And I suspect, this mentality was at hand in other aspects of the job-those cheaply-built tunnel “cutain” walls (poured in place BEFORE the tunnels were excavated), are already showing signs of shifting, under the tremendous loads above(and the unstable glacial till that they are bedded on. So, my fellow US Taxpayers-take heart-you are likely to be treated to countless hearings, criminal trils, boards of inquiries in the years to come (as lawyers try to determine just WHO is guilty). MERRY CHRISTMAS! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-was-the-big-dig-jerry-built-from-the-start/385437/2 "2006-12-24T14:00:58Z")
The Panama Canal? No, it was begun by DeLesseps and a French company, and completed by the U.S. government. As a citizen of North Carolina who has seen _one_ reference to Boston’s tunneling project and probably has never lost a penny of tax money to it, I’m not overly disturbed about it. Should I be? Give me reason. Oh, and for posting a Pit rant about a local issue in GD and simply venting your own annoyance about it instead of convincing anyone else outside the Boston area why they should be concerned: your Pitting score is 0.5 on a scale of 10. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-was-the-big-dig-jerry-built-from-the-start/385437/3 "2006-12-24T14:08:52Z")
The only thing worse than the Big Dig was the Central Artery, the highway it replaced. For all its warts, the the Big Dig is vastly superior at moving vehicles from one place to another, and Boston will be a more beautiful city without an elevated iron dinosaur prostrated through the middle of it. Was there waste in the construction? Yes. Does that mean it should not have been built? Absolutely not. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-was-the-big-dig-jerry-built-from-the-start/385437/4 "2006-12-24T15:22:49Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] As a citizen of North Carolina who has seen _one_ reference to Boston’s tunneling project and probably has never lost a penny of tax money to it, I’m not overly disturbed about it. Should I be? Give me reason. [/QUOTE] How about 8.5 billion dollars of federal taxpayer’s money? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-was-the-big-dig-jerry-built-from-the-start/385437/5 "2006-12-24T15:40:28Z")
[QUOTE=mks57] How about 8.5 billion dollars of federal taxpayer’s money? [/QUOTE] Piffle. We piss that away in Iraq every month. If we have learned anything, it is that the federal budget is bottomless and deficits don’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-was-the-big-dig-jerry-built-from-the-start/385437/6 "2006-12-24T16:20:46Z")
“Jerry-built”, referring to shoddy craftsmanship, is insulting to Germans. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-was-the-big-dig-jerry-built-from-the-start/385437/7 "2006-12-24T16:38:57Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] “Jerry-built”, referring to shoddy craftsmanship, is insulting to Germans. [/QUOTE] [No, it isn’t.](http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxjerryb.html) ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-was-the-big-dig-jerry-built-from-the-start/385437/8 "2006-12-24T16:48:58Z")
[QUOTE=mks57] [No, it isn’t.](http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxjerryb.html) [/QUOTE] Hmmmm, I was just in my dentist’s office last Wednesday and I read in magazine in the waiting room that it _was_ (might’ve been Reader’s Digest?) I made note of it because I’d never heard “Jerry” built/rigged before. I’ve always heard “jury”. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-was-the-big-dig-jerry-built-from-the-start/385437/9 "2006-12-24T17:24:07Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] Hmmmm, I was just in my dentist’s office last Wednesday and I read in magazine in the waiting room that it _was_ (might’ve been Reader’s Digest?) I made note of it because I’d never heard “Jerry” built/rigged before. I’ve always heard “jury”. [/QUOTE] If I may… “Jury-Rigged” is actually a contraction of the phrase “Injury-rigging”, which referred to a ships “…assortment of spare spars and timbers as a hedge agains loss of some portion of the existing arrangement of masts and yardarms. Should… causes result in the severe damage to, or loss of, one of more of the vital elements in a ships propulsion system, a piece of similar characteristics could be selected from this assortment and adapted to function in lieu of the original until reaching port.” Source: Commander T. G. Martin (USN Ret) “Naval History” Aug, 2005 ed. ---
**Author:** ![lowbrass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dc4da7/32.png) [@lowbrass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lowbrass)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-was-the-big-dig-jerry-built-from-the-start/385437/10 "2006-12-24T19:51:42Z")
[QUOTE=pullin] If I may… “Jury-Rigged” is actually a contraction of the phrase “Injury-rigging”, which referred to a ships “…assortment of spare spars and timbers as a hedge agains loss of some portion of the existing arrangement of masts and yardarms. Should… causes result in the severe damage to, or loss of, one of more of the vital elements in a ships propulsion system, a piece of similar characteristics could be selected from this assortment and adapted to function in lieu of the original until reaching port.” Source: Commander T. G. Martin (USN Ret) “Naval History” Aug, 2005 ed. [/QUOTE] mks57’s source says the origin “injury rigging” is spurious. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-was-the-big-dig-jerry-built-from-the-start/385437/11 "2006-12-25T03:04:03Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] “Jerry-built”, referring to shoddy craftsmanship, is insulting to Germans. [/QUOTE] This would be more credible if I could think of a single instance of something German made being inferior to an alternative. Back to the OP, I am waiting for the Modern Marvel, Engineering Disasters, which covers the Big Dig. Wonder when that will be on. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-was-the-big-dig-jerry-built-from-the-start/385437/12 "2006-12-25T03:34:23Z")
to continue the hijack/ I always thought that “jerry rigged” was a modern polite way to say “ni\*\*er rigged” /hijack over As you were. ---
**Author:** ![Don26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@Don26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don26)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-was-the-big-dig-jerry-built-from-the-start/385437/13 "2006-12-25T07:20:31Z")
Being involved in the construction industry and a veteran, my opinion is that awarding contracts to the lowest bidder makes as little sense as awarding them to the highest bidder. In short, Yes, it was, because you get what you pay for. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-was-the-big-dig-jerry-built-from-the-start/385437/14 "2006-12-25T13:22:34Z")
[QUOTE=lee] Back to the OP, I am waiting for the Modern Marvel, Engineering Disasters, which covers the Big Dig. Wonder when that will be on. [/QUOTE] It was supposed to be on already, but it’s been plagued with delays and it’s way over budget. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-was-the-big-dig-jerry-built-from-the-start/385437/15 "2006-12-25T14:14:42Z")
[QUOTE=dahfisheroo] to continue the hijack/ I always thought that “jerry rigged” was a modern polite way to say “ni\*\*er rigged” /hijack over As you were. [/QUOTE] No, as jerry or jury rigged things are only designed to work in the short term. However, things that are afro-engineered, as my mother says, must work long term and yet still be inexpensive. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-was-the-big-dig-jerry-built-from-the-start/385437/16 "2006-12-25T15:29:21Z")
[QUOTE=lee] No, as jerry or jury rigged things are only designed to work in the short term. However, things that are afro-engineered, as my mother says, must work long term and yet still be inexpensive. [/QUOTE] :rolleyes: I think the correct answer is “No, because the other two terms are older.” ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-was-the-big-dig-jerry-built-from-the-start/385437/17 "2006-12-25T16:51:47Z")
Jerry-built is british, from the 19th century, and has to deal with substandard housebuilding. It may, like ‘Bob’s your uncle’ refer to a specific cheap-ass builder, and not germans at large. Jury-rigging is naval, older, and, as opposed to Jerry-Built means something lashed together to work for a brief period of time, because there really isn’t any other choice. ‘injury’ rigging may or may not be the original form of the phrase, but it’s close. In short, I agree with this. [http://www.word-detective.com/back-g2.html](http://www.word-detective.com/back-g2.html) The Word Detective is usually correct about these things. Source: Son of a son of a sailor. (Actually, son of the son of the son of a sailor) We don’t use ‘jerry-rig’. Only people who don’t sail confuse the two.