etymology - How did the phrase "are you nuts" come about?


What is the connection between "nut" and the character? How was the phrase "are you nuts?" used at first?



Answer



Etymonline has this to offer:



"crazy," 1846, from earlier be nutts upon "be very fond of" (1785), which is possibly from nuts (n., pl.) "any source of pleasure" (1610s), from nut (q.v.). Sense influenced probably by metaphoric application of nut to "head" (1846, e.g. to be off one's nut "be insane," 1860).



So, in a similar since of being out of one's mind or being out of your head, nuts seems to have evolved past into its own idiom. This is further suggested by the common phrase, "out of one's gourd" which has the same meaning.


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