Meaning:
If something is `Jerry built' it is built in a makeshift and insubstantial manner.
Background:
The phrases `jerry built'/'jerry building'/'jerry builder' have been around
since at least 1869, when `jerry built' was defined in the Lonsdale Glossary:
"Jerry-built, slightly, or unsubstantially built."
By 1901, the term began to be used figuratively - a sure sign of acceptance
into the general language; for example, The Daily Chronicle, in August that
year printed this opinion:
"In an age of jerry-built books it is refreshing to come across a volume
that has taken forty years to compile."
The derivation is unknown. What we do know is that the term has nothing to do
with the UK slang term for German - Jerry/Gerry. This is of WWI origin and
the citations above pre-date that.
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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Engineers might frown upon Jerry-built products but quality takes investment and
risk and does not always maximize profit. Once a software module is coded and
tested, for example, there's little incentive for programmers to improve it in a
substantial way no matter how shoddy the beast proves to be. Starry-eyed college
grads who set out to practice the art of computer programming find themselves
spend their time reading legacy spaghetti code and hunting elusive bugs spotted
only in the wild.
