The Straight Dope: How did nuts and bananas come to mean “crazy”?

[Send questions for Cecil Adams: cecil@straightdope.com](mailto:cecil@straightdope.com) [dope_180518_nuts_online.gif] 05/18/2018 Dear Cecil: Oh master, how did the terms nuts and bananas come to refer to something or someone crazy — Shane Adams Cecil replies: How did any word ever come by a new meaning? It’s not like Noah Webster just announced it in the newsletter one week. No, someone tried using an existing word in some novel way, and it stuck. That’s how language evolves, much as it may bug those weirdos who insist that decimate can only mean “kill a tenth of.” In the long centuries of the pre-text-message era, of course, new slang typically made its debut in speech rather than writing, so some developments surely took some time to turn up in the historical record. But from what we can tell, people have been using nuts to mean “crazy” since the mid-19th century; bananas seems to have shown up maybe 100 years later. [Click here]( for more. STRAIGHT DOPE STAFF REPORT — 08/25/1999 Dear Straight Dope: Where do tumbleweeds come from? Do they tumble in their "natural" state. or only when they die? Where are their roots? What do they look like when they are growing? — Shamrocknc@aol.com SDStaff Doug replies: Like so many things in Our Great Land, this is another case where there’s more than one thing that has been given the same name. “Tumbleweed” is not one specific plant, though there is technically only one plant that bears that name, a type of Amaranth (a name you may recognize now that some folks are using certain types of amaranth seeds to make flour). The species Amaranthus albus is the tumbleweed. It’s a little shrubby weed common to a fair portion of North America, especially drier areas. Nothing special when alive, it has tiny, greenish flowers and small leaves. [Click here]( for more. STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC — 06/20/2006 Dear Cecil: When I'm feeling cynical about well-publicized criminal trials, I sometimes use the timeworn phrase "they've never hung a millionaire in the U.S." Certainly I can't think of one. But is it true? — Timothy G. Merker, Chicago Cecil replies: If the expression “You simply cannot hang a millionaire in America,” attributed to politician and orator William Bourke Cockran (1854-1923), is timeworn, Tim, it’s not from overuse — Google turns up a big four hits. That tells you something about U.S. attitudes right there, because the fact is, while a few millionaires have gone to the gallows (chair, whatever), we haven’t hanged many. Let’s count: [Click here]( for more. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [View this message as a webpage](. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. To advertise on The Straight Dope, contact Rich Hummel at rhummel@suntimes.com [Privacy Policy/Terms of Use]( • [Unsubscribe]( © 2018 Straight Dope, LLC. 30 N Racine Ave. Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60607