chris@byucsa.UUCP (Chris J. Grevstad) (03/01/85)
Here is the long awaited compendium of insane idioms (that is: idioms denoting
some degree of insanity). I apologise for the lenthg of the list but I
appreciate all the people who submitted replies (who are properly thanked way
down there at the bottom).
There were of course many duplicates and if I have left them in, I guess I
didn't edit well enough. Some very delightful ones, though.
His head isn't screwed on right.
bats in the [or his] belfry;
off the wall (or bouncing off the wall)
nine pence in the shilling
some bugs in his software (I'm not sure I've ever heard this one, even among computer types)
" He's only got one oar in the water.
I get a kick out of some of these (especially the more colorful ones,
such as mine, which paints a picture of an earnest fellow rowing with
great industry in circles). "
bonkers
wacko (whacko?)
jado (acronym for Just A Ding Off)
nuts
crackers
(One local recently claimed that another local had "eels in his hovercraft."
I think this is a new coinage, and a nice one.)
(I remember that signature. Chris.)
They don't know which side of the toast the butter is on.
Here's a list, plus, as an added bonus, the date of earliest
usage:
1806 funny
1832 crazy as a bedbug
1840 loco
1845 crazy as a loon
1846 touched in the head
1850 off one's head
1860 have a screw loose
1860 looney
1870 crank
1880 meshuga (first use in English context)
1880 nut
1890 daffy
1891 bughouse
1891 off one's chump
1891 off one's nut
1896 off one's trolly
1901 off
1912 crazy in the head
1918 cuckoo
1920 not all there
1930 off one's rocker
1930 screwball
1930 screwy
1935 nutty as a fruitcake
1936 wacky
1940 pixilated
1940 weird
1940 weirdie
1950 weirdo
dicked in the knob
I don't know if his biscuits (bread) are (is) all done.
I think he has a screw loose.
Lost his marbles.
The lights are on but nobody's home.
Not playing with a full deck.
(There are many variants of the 'brick' idiom. Chris.)
half a brick short of a full load
a few bricks shy of a load
one brick shy of a load.
not firing on all four cylinders
A quart low.
Light not buring too bright.
playing hockey with a warped puck
nice house, but nobody's home
short a few cards (a variant of "not a full deck")
his elevator doesn't go all the way to the top
not all there
space case
driving with two wheels in the sand
running on empty
about fifteen cents short
looney
bananas
loco
out to lunch
a little off
(And then I received this letter. I can't really say where I've heard the
phrase but I know I have heard it before, as apparently someone else has.
Someone out there give us a good explanation? Chris.)
I have never heard of the expression "not playing with a full deck"
meaning "insanity". I always thought it meant the person refered to
was CHEATING. The allusion is to the concept of having a card up
ones sleeve, thus the deck is not "full". Something is being hidden
and things are not as they seem.
Is this possibly a regionalism? I grew up in the mid-west and New
Jersey, and now live in SF Bay Area. I've never heard anyone use this
expression to mean "crazy". Where have you heard this meaning?
My thanks to the following:
Jeff Lichtman @ rtech
Bob Devine @ asgb!devine
Don Steiny @ steiny@scc.UUCP
Janet Hallock @ dsd!woody
Dragon
Christopher J. Henrich @ petsd!cjh
Lee Gold @ sdcrdcf!barryg
Scott R. Anderson @ oddjob!sra
gam @ amdahl!gam
George Sicherman @ sunybcs!colonel
Melinda Shore @ sphinx!shor
Jeff Lichtman @ jeff@rtech.ARPA
GW Ryan @ cord!gwr
Michael Stimac @ tymix!stimac
--
Chris Grevstad
{ihnp4,noao,mcnc,utah-cs}!arizona!byucsa!chris
This noon we dispatched the fleas.