The term “going haywire” means that something is totally off the rails and out of control.
I think it’s interesting that the origin of the word had nothing to do with electricity.
It developed in the 1920s in farming territory, and referred to when something was so broken you could only fix it using hay baling wire. Hay wire, get it? I learned all of this recently, after I made a mistake with a live wire and shocked myself into the hospital. I was warned not to do the HVAC repairs myself, and in hindsight I guess I should have listened. I had mistakenly touched a live wire to the side of a metal air duct, which had caused an immediate and dramatic reaction. The current spread through the entire ductwork system, which was enough of an event to fry the circuit breakers in the fuze box. Since I was touching the ductwork at the time, that current also went through me, so I didn’t realize how quickly the power went out because I was already unconscious. It was definitely not my finest hour, which is why my wife already called a local HVAC contractor to clean up my mess and fix what I could not. I will be here for a few days, and by the time I go home the live wire will be capped and the HVAC system will be working better than ever. I will certainly never mess around with the heating or cooling system ever again, I can’t afford another shock to the system like that.
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