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Comment by pnathan | Hacker News Reader

My perspective on makerspaces and the maker movement is that it's something stemming from people who didn't really spend time in the blue collar world where jerry rigging, fixing, creating physical devices, etc are normative behavior.

It seems to be located in particular cultural class segments - monied, urban, technologist, etc. And, unfortunately, it's become a marketing Thing, e.g., Make Magazine.

While I am a member of a makerspace, I suspect I'd be just as happy if it was oriented exclusively towards social F/OSS coding to the exclusion of the other aspects (but there's nothing like that in Seattle, and I don't have the energy or social capital to found one).

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As a farmer, jerry rigging, fixing, etc. are major tenants of the job, but I still find myself drawn to making. I believe it is driven mostly by the desire of education. There's always something new to learn, and the maker movement has made those resources even more accessible.

I'm a construction worker, and I'm the guy who fixes everyone else's screw ups. We're normally the guys who're called in when the first guy did a hack job.

I love building things. I think the maker movement is just making it more accessible, and more specifically less time consuming.

One of my dreams is to build my own house, and I've got sketches and diagrams, etc. piling up. And the other day I had the thought "I wish I had a 3D printer, because it would be so easy to print out a model." There's no way in hell I'm going to spend days of work hand assembling a model. I would spend an evening making a design to print out, and then spend a couple hours painting it.

> unfortunately, it's become a marketing Thing, e.g., Make Magazine

Well, I'm not so sure about "unfortunately". My kids read that magazine with great interest, and have learned quite a few things as a result.

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Urban Dictionary says:

"This term was created during WW2, in reference to the Germans who were referred to as "Jerries" as slang. Allies often came across hastily repaired objects left by the Germans hence the term Jerry-Rig came to be."

Independently verified by my grandfather, who is 97 and is in fact a genuine "Ally".

"Jury rigging" is something else altogether and is usually considered a crime.

No, jury rig is the original nautical term dating back to at least 1788. The term likely originated from French words either ajurie meaning "help/relief" or jour meaning "a day" and joined with the word rig (relating to the ships rigging).

Jury rig literally meant a temporary fix to the mast to support the rigging.

It was likely corrupted in WW2, and I highly doubt it came from the implication of the Urban Dictionary article. The Germans were incredible engineers, and often over engineered their equipment. Jerry rigging likely meant the work that the allied forces did to use the German equipment as some of the earliest uses seem to stem from the airborne forces dropped behind German lines who were under orders to commandeer their equipment. Jerry rig then likely became the phrase for what you did to fix the equipment the Germans sabotaged during their retreat.

I've never read of the Germans retreating and leaving repaired equipment for the allies, so I'd put a lot of money on that being an absolute bullshit claim.

A piece of equipment could be left repaired due to damage, and I could easily imagine the repairs being hasty or haphazard, given they're in a war zone, due to lack of materials. So it's not that far fetched.

Yes it is far fetched. Most equipment left behind was sabotaged, as is the nature of war.

The phrase jury rigged means "use what you have to make it work". It's a logical corruption that you jury rigged the jerries equipment. It makes no sense at all that you would even find it worth mentioning that the Germans repaired their own equipment.

The logical origin is that the uses were using Jerry Rigged to mean Jury Rigging German equipment. Not that the Germans would also Jury Rig their equipment, that's like inventing a word to say they also tied their fucking shoe laces.

For what it's worth, Google about 195,000 results for "jerry rig" and about 187,000 results for "jury rig".

For what it's worth, make that 195,001 and 187,001.

They've been interchangeable since about the 1960's, unless you work in a maritime industry, where you would be correct.

Either term is appropriate, and understandable by all.

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