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[/nq] Because when one person uses "bananas" to mean "mad," other people understand what is meant. " MW online confirms this. " I would find this etymology much more plausible if some dictionary actually said that one definition of the noun "banana" was "worthless or crazy person," but I've never seen such a definition, not even in AHD; a search of dictionaries online (and my hard-copy MW3) turned none up; and I am unfamiliar with the supposed usage.
- [/nq] Because when one person uses "bananas" to mean "mad," other people understand what is meant.
- " MW online confirms this.
- " I would find this etymology much more plausible if some dictionary actually said that one definition of the noun "banana" was "worthless or crazy person," but I've never seen such a definition, not even in AHD; a search of dictionaries online (and my hard-copy MW3) turned none up; and I am unfamiliar with the supposed usage.
- " Maybe someone else can do a better job of that than I have.
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4 Answers
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[nq:1]Why does bananas mean mad?[/nq]
Because when one person uses "bananas" to mean "mad," other people understand what is meant.
According to AHD$ (online at ), the etymology of the noun "banana" is "Portuguese and Spanish, from Wolof, Mandingo, and Fulani." MW online confirms this. AHD4 also says that the adjective "bananas," used to mean "mad" or "crazy," has this etymology: "From bana
Because when one person uses "bananas" to mean "mad," other people understand what is meant.
According to AHD$ (online at ), the etymology of the noun "banana" is "Portuguese and Spanish, from Wolof, Mandingo, and Fulani." MW online confirms this. AHD4 also says that the adjective "bananas," used to mean "mad" or "crazy," has this etymology: "From bana
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[nq:1]Mandingo, and Fulani." MW online confirms this. AHD4 also says that the adjective "bananas," used to mean "mad" or "crazy," has this etymology: "From banana, worthless or crazy person, from banana (the fruit)."[/nq]
Weird. I always had the very specific impression that "go bananas" meant to act like an agitated ape.
The Kaibo National Forest is in the Big Rock Candy Mountains. ¬R
Weird. I always had the very specific impression that "go bananas" meant to act like an agitated ape.
The Kaibo National Forest is in the Big Rock Candy Mountains. ¬R
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[nq:2]Why does bananas mean mad?[/nq]
[nq:1]Because when one person uses "bananas" to mean "mad," other people understand what is meant. According to AHD$ (online at ... know how "bananas" came to mean "mad." Maybe someone else can do a better job of that than I have.[/nq]
OED is no help. 'banana' in any singular sense of 'crazy person' is not there. The plural has its earliest cite in thi
[nq:1]Because when one person uses "bananas" to mean "mad," other people understand what is meant. According to AHD$ (online at ... know how "bananas" came to mean "mad." Maybe someone else can do a better job of that than I have.[/nq]
OED is no help. 'banana' in any singular sense of 'crazy person' is not there. The plural has its earliest cite in thi
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[nq:1]I worked with a guy who, like many of the wartime generation, didn't see=a=20 banana until he was 8. He spent the rest of his life trying to make up =for=20 this.[/nq]
I remember bananas from during the war. What surprised me (and I may well have been eight or more) was the connection between those sweet, round, yellow slices with a hole in the middle that came in tins contained in warti
I remember bananas from during the war. What surprised me (and I may well have been eight or more) was the connection between those sweet, round, yellow slices with a hole in the middle that came in tins contained in warti
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