| Author |
Message |
FRAN
Guest
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 1:36 pm
Post subject: Going bananas |
|
|
Does eanyone know (or can anyone suggest) a plusible histry for this
phrase ... meaning:
"getting into a state of high excitement"
or
"getting extremely angry".
Fran
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Mark Brader
Guest
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 1:40 pm
Post subject: Re: Going bananas |
|
|
Fran Barlow, forgetting to put "going bananas" in the message body, asks:
| Quote: | Does eanyone know (or can anyone suggest) a plusible histry for this
phrase ... meaning:
"getting into a state of high excitement"
or
"getting extremely angry".
|
Apes supposedly love bananas. I therefore suggest that the phrase
was a humorous variation on "going ape".
--
Mark Brader | Nature is often much more interesting than we would
Toronto | like her to be. However when we finally do understand
msb@vex.net | something, we strike our foreheads and cry "Of course!",
| and then marvel at how beautifully simple it was
| all the time. -- Leigh Palmer |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Peter Duncanson
Guest
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 6:46 pm
Post subject: Re: Going bananas |
|
|
On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 07:40:40 -0000, msb@vex.net (Mark Brader) wrote:
| Quote: | Fran Barlow, forgetting to put "going bananas" in the message body, asks:
Does eanyone know (or can anyone suggest) a plusible histry for this
phrase ... meaning:
"getting into a state of high excitement"
or
"getting extremely angry".
Apes supposedly love bananas. I therefore suggest that the phrase
was a humorous variation on "going ape".
|
Brewer's Phrase and Fable, Millennium Edition says:
Go bananas, To.
To go crazy or mad with anger, frustration or the like.
The allusion is to monkeys and apes, who like bananas and
will frantically try to seize them when they are proffered.
Online dictionaries via Onelook.com either give no origin or are more
cautious:
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth
Edition. 2000.
ETYMOLOGY: From banana, worthless or crazy person, from banana.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=banana
Bananas in the slang sense of "nuts" is first recorded 1935
I've also checked in the printed reference books that I have at home.
The search was unfruitful.
--
Peter Duncanson
UK (posting from a.e.u)
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Matti Lamprhey
Guest
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 8:34 pm
Post subject: Re: Going bananas |
|
|
"FRAN" <fran_beta@hotmail.com> wrote...
| Quote: | Does eanyone know (or can anyone suggest) a plusible histry for this
phrase ... meaning:
"getting into a state of high excitement"
or
"getting extremely angry".
|
It seems that the relatively sudden introduction of bananas to the
consumers of the West triggered a number of new phrases of this kind.
The subject received a superficial skate-over in BBC Radio 4's _Word of
Mouth_ programme yesterday afternoon, which you can get here for a few
more days:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/rams/wordofmouth.ram
The relevant section starts 12 minutes 24 seconds in. "Going bananas"
isn't mentioned, but the background is certainly relevant to your
phrase.
Matti |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Maria Conlon
Guest
|
| Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 10:28 pm
Post subject: Re: Going bananas |
|
|
Peter Duncanson wrote:
| Quote: | Mark Brader wrote:
Fran Barlow, forgetting to put "going bananas" in the message body,
asks:
Does eanyone know (or can anyone suggest) a plusible histry for this
phrase ... meaning:
"getting into a state of high excitement"
or
"getting extremely angry".
Apes supposedly love bananas. I therefore suggest that the phrase
was a humorous variation on "going ape".
Brewer's Phrase and Fable, Millennium Edition says:
Go bananas, To.
To go crazy or mad with anger, frustration or the like.
The allusion is to monkeys and apes, who like bananas and
will frantically try to seize them when they are proffered.
Online dictionaries via Onelook.com either give no origin or are more
cautious:
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth
Edition. 2000.
ETYMOLOGY: From banana, worthless or crazy person, from banana.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=banana
Bananas in the slang sense of "nuts" is first recorded 1935
|
Your dictionary search results agree with my initial thought about
"going bananas." That's the way our family always used/uses it. My
brother-in-law still says "you big banana" to anyone doing something
goofy or stupid. And going bananas would simply mean going crazy or
going nuts.
Mark's (and the Brewer's Phrase) "ape" connection doesn't figure in my
thinking, but that's just me.
| Quote: | I've also checked in the printed reference books that I have at home.
The search was unfruitful.
|
Good one.
Maria Conlon |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
John Dean
Guest
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 3:58 am
Post subject: Re: Going bananas |
|
|
Matti Lamprhey wrote:
| Quote: | "FRAN" <fran_beta@hotmail.com> wrote...
Does eanyone know (or can anyone suggest) a plusible histry for this
phrase ... meaning:
"getting into a state of high excitement"
or
"getting extremely angry".
It seems that the relatively sudden introduction of bananas to the
consumers of the West triggered a number of new phrases of this kind.
The subject received a superficial skate-over in BBC Radio 4's _Word
of Mouth_ programme yesterday afternoon, which you can get here for a
few more days:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/rams/wordofmouth.ram
The relevant section starts 12 minutes 24 seconds in. "Going bananas"
isn't mentioned, but the background is certainly relevant to your
phrase.
|
This shit is bananas
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
This shit is bananas
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
--
John "uh huh" Dean
Oxford |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Guest
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 4:48 am
Post subject: Re: Going bananas |
|
|
Just think: People will someday want to research "going postal," and
it may even be happening now. I seem to recall a young'un somewhere
asking about the phrase. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
FRAN
Guest
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 7:01 am
Post subject: Re: Going bananas |
|
|
meirman wrote:
| Quote: | In alt.english.usage on Sat, 20 Aug 2005 13:46:13 +0100 Peter
Duncanson <mail@peterduncanson.net> posted:
Brewer's Phrase and Fable, Millennium Edition says:
Go bananas, To.
To go crazy or mad with anger, frustration or the like.
The allusion is to monkeys and apes, who like bananas and
will frantically try to seize them when they are proffered.
Online dictionaries via Onelook.com either give no origin or are more
cautious:
I wouldn't call what follows cautious. It's different from the one
above, and if it is wrong and the one above is right, it's not
cautious at all.
I guess I am discussing the meaning of cautious.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth
Edition. 2000.
ETYMOLOGY: From banana, worthless or crazy person, from banana.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=banana
Bananas in the slang sense of "nuts" is first recorded 1935
I've also checked in the printed reference books that I have at home.
The search was unfruitful.
--
Peter Duncanson
I didn't think of "going ape", but when I thought of bananas I thought
of chimpanzees etc. and not so much that "they fantically try to
sieze" the offered bananas, but that they seem to get frenetic even
when sitting still some times. They shake their heads and wave their
arms, just out of enthusiasm it seems, and not because of some
problem.
I guess because lots of animals are frenetic when trying to get food,
which is often a real competition and requires energetic efforts, but
chimps are often frenetic for no apparent reason. "Go bananas" refers
to going bonkers for no substantial reason, although there is usually
some little reason.
s/ meirman
Posting from alt.english.usage
--
My English in this reply is colloquial, and may not always use full sentences.
For gosh sakes, when you ask a question, say what sort of English you are asking about.
When you give an answer, say in what part of the world you think your answer is valid.
If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.
Town NW of Pittsburgh Pa. 0 to 10 years | Brooklyn 12 years
Indianapolis 7 years | Now in
Chicago 6 years | Baltimore 22 years
|
I think this is all fascinating, because as reasonable as the other
proposals sound, they'd not occurred to me.
I always thought it must have something to do with the perverse shape
and orientation of hands of bananas. They do seem rather like waving
hands don't they?
They are brightly coloured and they evoke ideas of the tropics and
hedonism.
Ok, I'll cut down on the substances now.
Fran |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
meirman
Guest
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 7:01 am
Post subject: Re: Going bananas |
|
|
In alt.english.usage on Sat, 20 Aug 2005 13:46:13 +0100 Peter
Duncanson <mail@peterduncanson.net> posted:
| Quote: |
Brewer's Phrase and Fable, Millennium Edition says:
Go bananas, To.
To go crazy or mad with anger, frustration or the like.
The allusion is to monkeys and apes, who like bananas and
will frantically try to seize them when they are proffered.
Online dictionaries via Onelook.com either give no origin or are more
cautious:
|
I wouldn't call what follows cautious. It's different from the one
above, and if it is wrong and the one above is right, it's not
cautious at all.
I guess I am discussing the meaning of cautious.
| Quote: | The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth
Edition. 2000.
ETYMOLOGY: From banana, worthless or crazy person, from banana.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=banana
Bananas in the slang sense of "nuts" is first recorded 1935
I've also checked in the printed reference books that I have at home.
The search was unfruitful.
--
Peter Duncanson
|
I didn't think of "going ape", but when I thought of bananas I thought
of chimpanzees etc. and not so much that "they fantically try to
sieze" the offered bananas, but that they seem to get frenetic even
when sitting still some times. They shake their heads and wave their
arms, just out of enthusiasm it seems, and not because of some
problem.
I guess because lots of animals are frenetic when trying to get food,
which is often a real competition and requires energetic efforts, but
chimps are often frenetic for no apparent reason. "Go bananas" refers
to going bonkers for no substantial reason, although there is usually
some little reason.
s/ meirman
Posting from alt.english.usage
--
My English in this reply is colloquial, and may not always use full sentences.
For gosh sakes, when you ask a question, say what sort of English you are asking about.
When you give an answer, say in what part of the world you think your answer is valid.
If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.
Town NW of Pittsburgh Pa. 0 to 10 years | Brooklyn 12 years
Indianapolis 7 years | Now in
Chicago 6 years | Baltimore 22 years |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Peter Duncanson
Guest
|
| Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 7:14 pm
Post subject: Re: Going bananas |
|
|
On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 23:41:44 -0400, meirman <meirman@invalid.com> wrote:
| Quote: | In alt.english.usage on Sat, 20 Aug 2005 13:46:13 +0100 Peter
Duncanson <mail@peterduncanson.net> posted:
Brewer's Phrase and Fable, Millennium Edition says:
Go bananas, To.
To go crazy or mad with anger, frustration or the like.
The allusion is to monkeys and apes, who like bananas and
will frantically try to seize them when they are proffered.
Online dictionaries via Onelook.com either give no origin or are more
cautious:
I wouldn't call what follows cautious. It's different from the one
above, and if it is wrong and the one above is right, it's not
cautious at all.
I guess I am discussing the meaning of cautious.
|
Yes. I saw caution in those dictionaries, the majority, that did not
give an origin for the phrase. It is my impression that Brewer is much
readier to give an explanation of the origin of a phrase than are other
dictionaries. This suggests to me that many of the origins in Brewer do
not meet the standards of credibility or attestation required by the
compilers of other dictionaries.
| Quote: | The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth
Edition. 2000.
ETYMOLOGY: From banana, worthless or crazy person, from banana.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=banana
Bananas in the slang sense of "nuts" is first recorded 1935
I've also checked in the printed reference books that I have at home.
The search was unfruitful.
--
Peter Duncanson
I didn't think of "going ape", but when I thought of bananas I thought
of chimpanzees etc. and not so much that "they fantically try to
sieze" the offered bananas, but that they seem to get frenetic even
when sitting still some times. They shake their heads and wave their
arms, just out of enthusiasm it seems, and not because of some
problem.
I guess because lots of animals are frenetic when trying to get food,
which is often a real competition and requires energetic efforts, but
chimps are often frenetic for no apparent reason. "Go bananas" refers
to going bonkers for no substantial reason, although there is usually
some little reason.
s/ meirman
Posting from alt.english.usage
-- |
Peter Duncanson
UK (posting from a.e.u) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
meirman
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 6:28 am
Post subject: Re: Going bananas |
|
|
In alt.english.usage on 20 Aug 2005 21:37:03 -0700 "FRAN"
<fran_beta@hotmail.com> posted:
| Quote: |
They are brightly coloured and they evoke ideas of the tropics and
hedonism.
|
When I think of the tropics, I never think of hedonism.
(I mostly think of leaf-cutter ants.)
s/ meirman
Posting from alt.english.usage
--
My English in this reply is colloquial, and may not always use full sentences.
For gosh sakes, when you ask a question, say what sort of English you are asking about.
When you give an answer, say in what part of the world you think your answer is valid.
If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.
Town NW of Pittsburgh Pa. 0 to 10 years | Brooklyn 12 years
Indianapolis 7 years | Now in
Chicago 6 years | Baltimore 22 years |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
meirman
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 6:29 am
Post subject: Re: Going bananas |
|
|
In alt.english.usage on Sun, 21 Aug 2005 14:14:03 +0100 Peter
Duncanson <mail@peterduncanson.net> posted:
| Quote: | On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 23:41:44 -0400, meirman <meirman@invalid.com> wrote:
In alt.english.usage on Sat, 20 Aug 2005 13:46:13 +0100 Peter
Duncanson <mail@peterduncanson.net> posted:
Brewer's Phrase and Fable, Millennium Edition says:
Go bananas, To.
To go crazy or mad with anger, frustration or the like.
The allusion is to monkeys and apes, who like bananas and
will frantically try to seize them when they are proffered.
Online dictionaries via Onelook.com either give no origin or are more
cautious:
I wouldn't call what follows cautious. It's different from the one
above, and if it is wrong and the one above is right, it's not
cautious at all.
I guess I am discussing the meaning of cautious.
Yes. I saw caution in those dictionaries, the majority, that did not
give an origin for the phrase. It is my impression that Brewer is much
readier to give an explanation of the origin of a phrase than are other
dictionaries. This suggests to me that many of the origins in Brewer do
not meet the standards of credibility or attestation required by the
compilers of other dictionaries.
|
You're right. Cautious was fine.
| Quote: |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth
Edition. 2000.
ETYMOLOGY: From banana, worthless or crazy person, from banana.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=banana
Bananas in the slang sense of "nuts" is first recorded 1935
I've also checked in the printed reference books that I have at home.
The search was unfruitful.
--
Peter Duncanson
I didn't think of "going ape", but when I thought of bananas I thought
of chimpanzees etc. and not so much that "they fantically try to
sieze" the offered bananas, but that they seem to get frenetic even
when sitting still some times. They shake their heads and wave their
arms, just out of enthusiasm it seems, and not because of some
problem.
I guess because lots of animals are frenetic when trying to get food,
which is often a real competition and requires energetic efforts, but
chimps are often frenetic for no apparent reason. "Go bananas" refers
to going bonkers for no substantial reason, although there is usually
some little reason.
s/ meirman
Posting from alt.english.usage
|
s/ meirman
Posting from alt.english.usage
--
My English in this reply is colloquial, and may not always use full sentences.
For gosh sakes, when you ask a question, say what sort of English you are asking about.
When you give an answer, say in what part of the world you think your answer is valid.
If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.
Town NW of Pittsburgh Pa. 0 to 10 years | Brooklyn 12 years
Indianapolis 7 years | Now in
Chicago 6 years | Baltimore 22 years |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
FRAN
Guest
|
| Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 7:00 am
Post subject: Re: Going bananas |
|
|
meirman wrote:
| Quote: | In alt.english.usage on 20 Aug 2005 21:37:03 -0700 "FRAN"
fran_beta@hotmail.com> posted:
They are brightly coloured and they evoke ideas of the tropics and
hedonism.
When I think of the tropics, I never think of hedonism.
|
Must be an individual thing then.
I have that "drinking rum and Coca Cola" thing going, images of Carmen
Miranda, hula dancers, semi-naked revellers in the Mardi Gras, the Copa
Cabana, those absurdly decorated drinks ...
| Quote: |
(I mostly think of leaf-cutter ants.)
|
Hadn't thought of them at all.
Fran
| Quote: | s/ meirman
Posting from alt.english.usage
--
My English in this reply is colloquial, and may not always use full sentences.
For gosh sakes, when you ask a question, say what sort of English you are asking about.
When you give an answer, say in what part of the world you think your answer is valid.
If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.
Town NW of Pittsburgh Pa. 0 to 10 years | Brooklyn 12 years
Indianapolis 7 years | Now in
Chicago 6 years | Baltimore 22 years |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Areff
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 3:10 am
Post subject: Re: Going bananas |
|
|
["Followup-To:" header set to alt.usage.english.]
Weatherlawyer wrote:
| Quote: | You expect me to engage in conversation with a person lacking the wit
to know that bananas grow on the opposite side of the world to apes?
|
"Opposite side of the world *to*"? Is this a BrEism that is parallel to
"different to"... or do any AmEs find this acceptable? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Weatherlawyer
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 3:14 am
Post subject: Re: Going bananas |
|
|
Peter Duncanson wrote:
| Quote: | Apes supposedly love bananas.
|
Don't you mean plantains? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| |
FAQ
Memberlist
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in