Re: Nuts

Posted by ESC on March 28, 2004

In Reply to: Nuts posted by liliana on March 28, 2004

: Hi everybody,
: does anybody knows the origin of expression "drive me nuts" or similar and what (if any) is the link between nuts (fruit) and nuts?
: Thanks

According to one reference: "...The word 'nut' first was used as a slang term for 'head' back around 1820. Gradually it acquired the meaning not merely of 'head' but of 'something wrong in the head.' So now a mentally ill person may be referred to as 'nuts' or 'nutty." From "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins, New York, 1977, 1988).

You may to refer to them that way. But it's not nice.