Why do we say something is "out of kilter" or "out of whack"? Has something ever been "in kilter" or "in whack"?

I first heard the term "out of kilter" as a kid while watching my father build a basketball backboard and hoop next to our driveway. I had rarely seen him more serene and busy.

But after the concrete had set around the wooden support beams, he discovered that one side of the backboard was slightly higher than the other. It was, he said, "out of kilter, darn it" (but he didn't say "darn").

Like that backboard, every explanation for the origin of this term seems slightly out-of-kilter. All experts agree that "kilter" derives from the Scots and English dialect word "kelter," but this term has had many meanings — a state of good health or good order, money, rubbish, nonsense talk, a useless hand of cards, the stomach.

No one knows for certain which of these definitions gave rise to "out of kelter (kilter)," though the "good condition or health" meaning seems the most likely source. We do know the expression first appeared in print as "out of kelter" in 1643, and that the term did have a positive form — "in kelter (kilter)."

The spellings "kelter" and "kilter" coexisted for a couple of centuries. The 1811 edition of The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, by the appropriately named Captain Francis Grose, for instance, included this entry: "KELTER. Condition, order. Out of kelter; out of order."

The origin of "out of whack" is similarly wacky. "Whack," meaning to strike a sharp blow, first appeared during the early 1700s, probably as an imitation of the sound of such a wallop — "Whack! " And, yes, the word "wacky" (originally "whacky") was coined because irrational people sometimes act as if they've suffered a whack to the noggin.

During the late 1700s, the noun "whack" took on other meanings: a cut of the loot, one's agreed contribution to shared expenses ("pay one's whack"), an item's price ("pay top whack") and an agreement.

The term "out of whack," which first appeared during the late 1800s, may have originated from this last meaning — an agreement gone awry. Or it may have evolved as the opposite of the 19th-century expression "fine whack," meaning in good condition or in fine fettle.

John Hay used the term this way to describe President Abraham Lincoln's equanimity as he managed the nation during the Civil War. "The Tycoon is in fine whack," Hay wrote. "I have rarely seen him more serene and busy."

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to [email protected] or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.