The Rice University Neologisms Database

1. not well planned-out 2. half-finished job Half-assed is a vulgar word and unusual to see in a newspaper, but the topic was about the failed levees in New Orleans, and Louisiana politicians are getting fed up with the slow response from Congress. At this point, everyone in New Orleans is frustrated with the government because of the slow work and incomplete inspections for the levee systems that took place, so half-assed is probably not the worse profanity that has been said about the government since Hurricane Katrina. The etymology of half-ass is from the Oxford English Dictionary.