Friday 19 October 2018

HIGGLEDY-PIGGLEDY

The phrase “higgledy-piggledy” describes confusion or disorder.


HIGGLEDY-PIGGLEDY


 Examples

 “Bask in the beauty of England's largest (and arguably most spectacular) National Park on this rail trip to the Lake District. Cruise along Lake Windermere and then head to the higgledy-piggledy village of Hawkshead, which is full of picturesque medieval cottages.”

 “Tokyo is a more jumbled city than most rich ones, but current zoning laws ensure that it is not quite as higgledy-piggledy as, say, Houston.”

 “Jenners, for all its winding staircases and higgledy-piggledy layout, had all the appeal of Emile Zola’s The Ladies Paradise – a wonderful novel on the rise of department store retail.”


 This phrase is thought to originate from a 16th century rhyming jingle related to the irregular herding of pigs [1].


 [1] Knowles, Elizabeth. “higgledy-piggledy.” In The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Oxford University Press, 2005.

 Photo credit: Steve Sawyer (Creative Commons)


 Updated Friday 21 February 2020


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