Slap Happy

Posted by ESC on August 08, 2000

In Reply to: Slap Happy posted by Rico on August 08, 2000

: Where did the term "slap happy" come from?

SLAP-HAPPY - "The internal rhyme of this word has insured its long life, which dates back at least to the late 1920. It means to be very confused, dazed, or punch-drunk, and comes from the sport of boxing, which has produced too many men who act like this because they've taken too many blows to the head. Despite his nickname, clowning boxer Slapsy Maxie Rosenbloom was NOT one of them." From Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Fact on File, New York, 1997)