Meaning:
`Helter-skelter' means `pell-mell - in chaotic and disorderly haste'.
Also, a Helter-Skelter is the name of an English fairground attraction with a
spiral slide.
Background:
Those of a certain age might remember The Beatles' song from the 1968 White
Album - Helter Skelter. If so, the song's lyrics may also evoke memories of
clinging on to hessian mats and spiralling down fairground slides.
Helter-Skelter slides began appearing at British fairs around the turn of the
20th century. In 1906, the UK newspaper The Westmorland Gazette included
this:
"The World's Manufacturing Company, examples of whose `helter-skelter'
lighthouses are at Earl's Court, Blackpool, Southport, and other places."
(Note - apropos of nothing in particular: `The World's Manufacturing Company'
- it's been some years since a British company had the confidence to call
itself something like that.)
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trump's reciprocal tariffs, announced yestereve, seemed to have thrown the world
into helter-skelter. Aside from upsetting the decades-long status quo, however,
the numbers appear nothing but fair. What's wrong with the U.S. charging half of
what it's being taxed by a trading partner?
Country Tariffs Charged U.S.A. Discounted
to the U.S.A. (%) Reciprocal Tariffs (%)
---------------------------------------------------------------
China 67 34
EU 39 20
Vietnam 90 46
Taiwan 64 32
Japan 46 24
India 52 26
South Korea 50 25
...
