topsy-turviness

alternative topsyturviness · alternative topsy-turvyness

1. uncountableThe condition or state of being topsy-turvy; disorderly or muddled.

   Poor Margaret’s state of mind may have accounted for the tremendous topsy-turviness—to use a familiar expression—of her sentences.

   1847, Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, The Comic History of England, London: Punch, Volume I, Book 4, Chapter 4, page 278

   4 more examples

   The ward master comes to the door of each room that is to be thinned, reads off a list of names, bids their owners look sharp and be ready when called for; and, as he vanishes, the rooms fall into an indescribable state of topsy-turvyness, as the boys begin to black their boots, brighten spurs, if they have them, overhaul knapsacks, make presents; […]

   1863 May 22 – 1863 June 26, L[ouisa] M[ay] Alcott, “A Postscript”, in Hospital Sketches, Boston, Mass.: James Redpath, […], published August 1863, →OCLC, page 95

   It is said, for example, that a vast amount of English grammar and literature is picked up in the course of learning Latin and Greek. This is perfectly true, but the topsy-turviness of the idea never seems to strike them. It is like saying that a baby picks up the art of walking in the course of learning to hop, or that a Frenchman may successfully be taught German by helping a Prussian to learn Ashanti.

   1901, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, “A Defence of Patriotism”, in The Defendant, London: R. Brimley Johnson, →OCLC, page 130

   This discovery gave the world a strange new topsy-turvyness, and set Millner's theories spinning about his brain like the cabin furniture of a tossing ship.

   1910 October, Edith Wharton, “The Blond Beast”, in Tales of Men and Ghosts, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, section IV, page 312

   “It’s the curse,” he said, referencing Beria, for whose sins Dynamo, many say, has yet to atone. But the club’s predicament owes more to the topsy-turviness of Russian soccer than to some historic hoodoo.

   2016 February 11, Sean Williams, “The downfall of a Russian soccer team”, in The New Yorker

   Synonyms: chaos, disorganization, muddle, bedlam, car crash, chaos, confusion, disarray