2006-09-21 05:44:37 · 6 answers · asked by ravi 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
from a website:
Dear Word Detective: A while back I asked whether you knew the origin of the word "nuts," like I'm going right now waiting for your answer. Why is a peculiar or insane person called a "nut"? Does it have some connection with the expression that someone is a little "squirrely"? -- Paul Schroeter, via the internet.
I'm glad you sent your question again, because evidently I didn't receive it the first time. Of course, it's remotely possible that I accidentally erased it along with the 900 or so items of junk mail I get every day. Were you by any chance trying to sell me carpet remnants or condos in Wyoming somewhere in your message?
In any case, we're on the same page now, and that's what counts. "Nut" in its original sense, i.e., peanuts, cashews, etc., is a very old word. Its ultimate source was probably the Indo-European root "knu," which meant "lump." The Latin word for nut, "nux," eventually gave us the words "nucleus" and "nuclear." The English word "nut" first appeared around 875 A.D. See? Told you it was old.
Since nuts play such a large role in our daily life and diet (at least they do in mine), it wasn't long before we started using "nut" in all sorts of non-literal, figurative senses. By around 1300, "nut" meant anything inconsequential. Later on we reconsidered, and "nut" was used to mean a difficult situation or problem ("a tough nut to crack").
By the mid-1800s, we were using "nut" to mean a person's head, and around the same time we decided that someone not quite right in the old noggin was "off his nut" or simply "nuts."
As for "squirrely" meaning "crazy," there is no direct linguistic connection with "nuts," although the obvious link between squirrels and nuts has probably spawned ten thousand tedious jokes. "Squirrely," which first appeared in the 1920s, simply means something which (or someone who) acts like a squirrel, and is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "Inclined to rush this way and that, unpredictable. Of a person: demented, crazy; jumpy, nervy."
2006-09-21 05:52:38 · answer #1 · answered by Terisu 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
and why aren't nuts called crazy?????
2006-09-21 12:46:46 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
something's wrong with their coconut...LOL short call them 'nuts'
2006-09-21 14:49:44 · answer #3 · answered by ♦cat 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
from lunatics....lu- nut - ics
2006-09-21 16:11:11 · answer #4 · answered by lord_love_rocket 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because they have a screw (bolt) loose!
2006-09-21 12:47:02 · answer #5 · answered by hollymichal 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
dang, I was hoping someone knew.....
2006-09-21 12:47:09 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋