Thursday, March 24, 2016

Final Craziness


Final Craziness

After three craziness posts (March 2, March 9 & March 16), here’s one more addressing words and terms we use to suggest someone is unhinged. Due to the abundant number, I’m skipping the word histories. And still, there are dozens more.

Late 1600s – to be half-baked
1810 – to have a screw loose
1850s – to be off one’s chump
Late 1800s – to be off one’s base,
Late 1800s - to be off one’s kadoova
Late 1800s -To not have all one’s buttons
Late 1800s – To slip a cog
Late 1800s – to be out of touch
1870 – to be off one’s conk
1890 – to be off one’s onion
Early 1900s - to be off one’s kazip
Early 1900s - to be off one’s bean,
1929 – To be round the bend (or around the bend)
1940s - to be off one’s nana
1950s - to be off one’s nob

Also, good friend and fellow writer Bruce West wrote in to remind me of two more:

The universal sign language of the index finger spinning at the temple, which Bruce points out was first reported in 1885 by Captain “White Hat” Clark of the US Cavalry when documenting the sign language of Native Americans.

Dinky dau, a term Bruce & his fellow Viet Nam vets brought home with them. The direct translation is crazy head, though dinky dau is used as a synonym for crazy.

Having so many ways to say crazy is, well, crazy! In the comments section, I’m hoping some of you might note the term above that most took you by surprise.


2 comments:

  1. Haha! Some of these are brand new to me. I'd never heard of kadoova or Kasip as things to be off of or on. I love it that we're all using Native American sign language without knowing it.

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    1. Hi Anne -- Looking through all these may have caused me to lose my buttons, though some would assert I've been shy a few buttons for some time (maybe they're hiding behind my kadooza).

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