Complete mental spaz

spaz means to lose emotional/physical control. (ever heard someone say I 'spazzed' out?)

I think here, the speaker got irritated by Garrett's attempts and in anger struck his hand.

Hi Dela

You should also know that "spaz" is slang for spastic paralysis, which is a medical phrase to describe a person whose brain has difficulty in controlling their physical movements

As such, it is quite an offensive word - but you are right to ask..

Regards, Dave

In the situation described in the example, we in Chinese will often say: I have a ghost in me. which means that Garrett only would like to pick up a piece of lined paper, but as "I have a ghost in me" (I have sth embarrassing to hide), I reacted over by taking it as Garrett would get the newspaper in my binder.

I was first doubt if "I have a complete mental spaz" has the similar indicatio

Actually, how offensive it is depends on where you are. As a verb, it's fairly common general speech with no offensive association that i'm aware of in New Zealand, for example. (now, to Call someone a spaz can be offensive or not depending on tone and context and such. laughingly when talking to a friend it just means they're being amusingly weird. derisively to someone you have an antagonistic

Hi

I like "I have a ghost in me". In English, we have "He had a haunted look". However, this is different: it means "He looked at me as if he was not himself - as if there were a ghost in his body"

For your earlier question: different towns and countries have different sayings of course, so it is difficult to give you a good phrase. In London, using slang, we might say "He's t

This thread has gotten very complicted. I have specific replies to several people:

Dela: I don't understand this at all:

By the way, to the case "I have sth embarrassing to hide so I reacted over by taking it as Garrett would get the newspaper in my binder" what would you say in English (we Chinese often say "I have a ghost in me" )

Hi Dela

Thanks for your message

The UK and US meaning are very similar. But in the UK we still have the phrase "He lost his rag"

In 17th century England, you find that, in a slang way, "red rag" means the tongue. So we might have..

- He's just waving his red rag

- He needs to give his red rag a holiday

After this, the "red" goes and we have..

Hi Dave -- I think your most recent post is in response to mine (not Dela's).

Your etymology of "He's lost it" was interesting -- it certainly explains your interpretation of the phrase. I don't think most Americans would interpret it that way, but maybe that's where it came from originally and it has lost its roots.

Hi khoff

Sorry, I lost the thread there!

Thanks for your message

Dave