...because they have given so much to our U.S. culture and language. Here they go again, giving us a lovely phrase like "basket case."
I was listening to this song and wondering what the heck it really meant because I couldn't think of how a picnic supply container had anything to do with heartbreak.
Back in the day of WWI the Union Jacks weaved their stretchers, because this is where the term orginiates. "Basket case" was how soldiers referred to the men who had lost all of their limbs in battle and needed to be carried from the field in a basket. Since then it has evolved into something that also means "one made powerless or ineffective, as by nerves, panic or stress," or "a person who is mentally incapacitated or worn out" (Wiktionary.com and merriam-webster.com)
Although, I honestly don't think the evolution of the phrase is a far cry from it's historical parent: I would probably be driven to mental incapacity if my body was only a torso and a head.
Not quite what Sara Bareilles meant, either. Though if I'm wrong about that, I don't know how she played guitar.
Cheers!
ALL of their limbs? really?
ReplyDelete(not a challenge, just a "find that so hard to imagine")... frankly, (fortunately?) my brain just says "stop" rather than go THERE.
How did you come across this spectacular nugget of information?
... makes one stop to think before classifying anyone/thing into the "basketcase" category. (one that my sibs and I have been tossed into all too often, apparently).
i LIKE IT