Out of Whack

OUT OF WHACK. An interesting phrase. And one that, when you stare at it long enough, feels counter-intuitive.

After all, when you whack something, you hit it hard, yes? So the purpose of "whacking" would be to move something OUT of it's current position or alignment - possibly with extreme prejudice, as whacking is also slang for killing.

And yet, OUT OF WHACK is used to indicate something out of position or alignment. "His back is out of whack." Or, the ever popular, "He's so whacked out." meaning not really of this reality.








According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, WHACK means "to strike sharply". It postulates that the phrase OUT OF WHACK means something that is not apportioned properly - so, if you strike something just so (Like a chocolate orange) it will fall neatly into 12 (or 16?) sections. But if you strike it poorly, the sections don't divide and, therefore, some of them would be OUT OF WHACK.





Cambridge Dictionaries Online says WHACK is 1)to give something a hard, noisy hit; 2)to quickly put something somewhere (british).
and the noun definitions: 1) the action of hitting someone or something noisily; 2)  a share or a part

Cambridge also has the phrases "Take a whack at" = try something; and "Top whack" = the highest possible price



Finally, the Free Dictionary has the full phrase defined as : out of adjustment; inoperative.
(from the McGraw Hill Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions.)




I'd have to say, the word WHACK really gets around. And it's actually not one I use a lot, certainly not to indicate a sharp strike. WHACK feels much more messy than that.

 Maybe it's the English language that's OUT OF WHACK.