More histories behind some of the euphemisms we use to describe those who are wired differently. (Part I is on page 40.)
BONKERS
The original meaning, from the early 20th century, was “slightly drunk.” It was most likely coined by British sailors, who used the term “bonk” to describe a blow to the head. Following that logic, a drunk person would act as if he’d been hit on the head—“bonkers.” It wasn’t until the end of World War II, however, that the word took on its “crazy” connotation.
Related to “bonkers,” “wacky” comes from “whacky,” late 1800s British slang for “crazy”—also from the notion of being whacked on the head a few too many times. Today, “bonkers,” “wacky,” and “wacko” refer to one who appears “humorously crazy,” and unlike most “crazy” words, are often terms of endearment.
This term predates baseball, first appearing in the game of cricket for a “ball bowled with ‘screw’ or spin.” By the 1920s, “screwball” was being used to describe a baseball pitch that breaks from left to right when thrown by a right-handed pitcher, the opposite of the more conventional “slider.” The term entered the American lexicon as slang meaning “an eccentric person” in 1933 and went on to define a genre of films—“screwball comedies”—during the ’30s and ’40s. The word later morphed into the phrases “a few loose screws” and “his head’s not screwed on tight,” culminating in the modern term, “screwy.”
It’s not short for “lunatic,” nor does it come from the bird known for its eerie, haunting calls. The “crazy” definition of loon actually comes from the Dutch word loen, which referred to a stupid person. In fact, Shakespeare’s reference to a “whey-faced loon” in Macbeth predates the name of the bird in the English language. People who act out in an outrageous manner or who believe wild conspiracy theories are most often called “loons” or “loony.”
Lawsuits filed by California inmates cost the state’s taxpayers more than $33 million per year.
As a name for a bird (based on the sound of its “coo-coo” call), this word dates back to A.D. 1240. By the 16th century, it was being used to refer to a stupid person, perhaps because the bird’s song is so simple and repetitive. The slang sense of cuckoo as “crazy” didn’t show up until later, after the invention of cuckoo clocks; one possibility was that listening to a cuckoo clock’s chime could drive you insane. By the 1950s, “cuckoo” in its “crazy” sense had been shortened to “kook” and “kooky.”
This may be the earliest English word used to describe insanity. First appearing sometime between A.D. 1000 and 1300, it comes from the Old English gemædde, “beside oneself with excitement.” Much later, “mad” was also used to mean “beside oneself with anger.” The “crazy” connotation spawned a few other phrases:
• Madcap. The “cap” in this word is an obsolete term meaning “head.” So a madcap was a “crazy head.” When it originated in the 16th century, it was a serious reference to a maniac, but today it’s usually used in phrases like a “zany, madcap adventure.”
• Mad as a hatter: In the 19th century, the process that hatmakers used to turn beaver or rabbit fur into felt hats involved toxic mercury nitrate. Years of breathing these fumes poisoned many hatmakers—leaving them with slurred speech, twitching, and other erratic behaviors. Although hatmaking is now safe, the phrase remains popular thanks to the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll’s 1865 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
• Mad as a March hare: In England, certain hares only mate in March, and males of the species leap about wildly to attract a female’s attention. The phrase dates back to the 1520s, and also made its way into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
• M.A.D. (Mutual Assured Destruction): In the 1960s, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. each had enough nuclear weapons to easily obliterate each other. And each had sworn to retaliate if attacked. So more weapons meant less of chance of nuclear war. This mad paradox got the world (somewhat) safely through the Cold War.
Who’s mad now? In 1952 Time magazine dismissed Mad magazine as “short-lived, satirical pulp.”