Haywire

Word Origin for Haywire

“…and then everything went haywire!”  

Ever hear a story with this phrase in it?  We all grow up more or less just understanding the word origin for haywire by the way it was used around us.  And it was used back in the 19th century with first recording it in 1910.  Yes, your great-great grandparents may have used it..even your mother and father!

Haywire Had Rural Beginnings

So you might use the words, confused, out of order, deranged or crazy. Yes, that would be the meaning of haywire. It originated with haywire or baling wire that farmers and ranchers used to tile bales of hay. As a bale of hay was opened with a hatchet to feed livestock, the sharp ends would spring around the farmer cutting them or snagging their clothes. Old wire left lying around also ended up around horse and livestock legs tangling them up.

How Else Could Old Wire be Used? 

Farmers could have been some of the first to have boards on Pinterest for use of haywire if Pinterest was around!  They used haywire to make temporary repairs that were often never made permanent. Yes, I get that….if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. With all the temporary fixes it gave their places a disorderly look.

Put Them All Together They Spell HAYWIRE! 

From the crazy leaping and snagging of the wire to the tangling of livestock and disorder created by haywire you can see how it contributed to the origin of the word, haywire. Next time life tangles you, trips you up and causes disorder, you can also say, “…..and then everything went haywire!”

taken from The Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson