The [1749 Cleland "freak out"] and friends

Sun Oct 3 17:09:06 UTC 2010

 Joel is undoubtedly correct.

"Freak-out" (n.) and to "freak out" (v.) emerged suddenly into media culture
ca1966 from the psychedelic hippie subculture.  The evidence for this is as
clear as it can be. Both terms were staples in period reporting on the use
of hallucinogens.  My queries among hippies and non-hippies ca1970-75 found
nobody who would even tentatively date either noun or verb to the
period before ca1965. HDAS adduces a somewhat surprising cite of the
transitive verb from Lenny Bruce dated by a secondary source to 1964. (Bruce
died of a heroin overdose in August, 1966; I now suspect that the actual
date of the citation may have been 1965-66.)  The earliest writers qtd. in
HDAS were all familiar with the recreational-drug subculture which became
more newsworthy than ever ca1964-65 with the introduction of LSD.

To "freak out" (intrans.) was defined in the media specifically as meaning
to have a "bad trip" on LSD that resulted in panic or bizarre behavior. Even
among hippies themselves, partakers of LSD or mescaline were advised to have
a sober friend on hand to help them in case of a freak-out.

The noun seemed to come directly from the verb. The verb soon came into wide
use in the extended sense of "to panic; fly into a rage; lose emotional
control; be astonished, etc." The noun was similarly used ("an instance of
..."), though less often.  The general spread of both idioms appears to have
been from drug users to high-school and college students to the middle
class.

There is no real possibility that either the current noun or verb existed in
their 1960s senses in the 18th C.   In forty years of research I have never
encountered the phrase to "have one's freak out" in American English - and,
FWIW, not very often in British English either.

The modern idioms are unrelated to Cleland's "freak" in the sense of  a
"whim."

See HDAS I for much more on "freak (out)."

JL

On Sun, Oct 3, 2010 at 11:58 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      The [1749 Cleland "freak out"] and friends
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> A correspondent on another list has come up with several instances of
> "freak out" between 1836 and 1916 (and says there are one or two
> others), and we are uncertain whether they belong in:
>
> (1)  "freak-out" = "An intense emotional experience", for which there
> is a [1749] quotation from Cleland and then 1966; or
> (2)  "to have a freak out" = to bring a caprice, a caper to a
> conclusion", for which I find no citations in the OED.
>
> The first two of the quotations my correspondent cites below probably
> better fit the "freak" + "to have out" (to bring to a conclusion) of
> the OED analysis than they do the noun "freak-out".  Viz. the OED:
>      " Quot. 1749, an isolated use, is better analysed as a use of
> the n. freak (sense 3) plus the verbal phr. to have out 'to bring to
> a conclusion' (cf. OUT adv. 7b)."
>
> "freak n[1]" sense 3 is "A capricious prank or trick, a caper."  Thus:
>
> "But our hero had now had his freak out, and was anxious to return to
> the  service and secure his promotion." is "But our hero had now
> *brought his escapade to an end*"
>
> And "But now that the lady yon mention has had her freak out, and
> finds her grand project frustrated," is "But now that the lady yon
> mention has *concluded her efforts*.
>
> But the following from 1852 does seem to fit with "freak-out" = "An
> intense emotional experience", and with the Cleland quote:
>
> "I accordingly waited until he had his freak out, when I found that
> he became more placid in his temper,"
>
> "Freak n[1] sense 1 is "A sudden causeless change or turn of the
> mind; a capricious humour, notion, whim, or vagary."
>
> Thus this quote likely is "I accordingly waited until *his excessive
> emotion was over*.
>
> However, I think that in "a photograph of a drunken, boyish group
> taken in a drunken, boyish freak out of which his own face laughed
> fatuously up into mine," the "out of which" is a reference to the
> photograph, and is not "a drunken, boyish freak out."  Imagine a
> comma omitted after "freak".
>
> Joel
>
> At 10/3/2010 03:34 AM, Jim Chevallier wrote:
> >In a message dated 10/2/2010 6:41:16 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
> >Berson at ATT.NET writes:[referring to the 1749 Cleland quote]
> > >"An isolated use," rather.  The next  quotation is 1966 (right on, Jim).
> >
> >Well, not quite:
> >
> >"But our hero had now had his freak out, and was anxious to return to the
> >service and secure his promotion."
> >
> >_
> http://books.google.com/books?pg=RA1-PA75&dq=%22freak+out%22&ei=YC-oTKelMIe
>
> >asAPQ2O2bDQ&ct=result&id=n1gMAAAAYAAJ#v=onepage&q=%22freak%20out%22&f=false_
> >
> >(http://books.google.com/books?pg=RA1-PA75&dq=
> "freak+out"&ei=YC-oTKelMIeasAPQ2O2bDQ&ct=result&id=n1gMAAAAYAAJ#v=onepage&q="freak%20out"&f=false)
> >
> >
> >Gentleman Jack: a naval story
> >By William Johnson Neale
> >1837
> >
> >"But now that the lady yon mention has had her freak out, and finds her
> >grand project frustrated, "
> >Tait's Edinburgh magazine
> >By William Tait, Christian Isobel  Johnstone
> >1840
> >_
> http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA656&dq=%22freak+out%22&ei=YC-oTKelMIeasA
> >PQ2O2bDQ&ct=result&id=AkMFAAAAQAAJ#v=onepage&q=%22freak%20out%22&f=false_
> >(http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA656&dq=
> "freak+out"&ei=YC-oTKelMIeasAPQ2O2b
> >DQ&ct=result&id=AkMFAAAAQAAJ#v=onepage&q="freak%20out"&f=false)
> >
> >
> >"I accordingly waited until he had his freak out, when I found that he
> >became more placid in his temper,"
> >The Squanders of castle Squander,  Volumes 1-2
> >By William Carleton
> >1852
> >_
> http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA85&dq=%22freak+out%22&ei=YC-oTKelMIeasAP
> >Q2O2bDQ&ct=result&id=BrcBAAAAQAAJ#v=onepage&q=%22freak%20out%22&f=false_
> >(http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA85&dq=
> "freak+out"&ei=YC-oTKelMIeasAPQ2O2bDQ
> >&ct=result&id=BrcBAAAAQAAJ#v=onepage&q="freak%20out"&f=false)
> >
> >
> >"a photograph of a drunken, boyish group taken in a drunken, boyish freak
> >out of which his own face laughed fatuously up into mine. "
> >The beloved son, Fanny Kemble Johnson
> >1916
> >_
> http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA172&dq=%22freak+out%22&ei=YC-oTKelMIeasA
> >PQ2O2bDQ&ct=result&id=UmEeAAAAMAAJ#v=onepage&q=%22freak%20out%22&f=false_
> >(http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA172&dq=
> "freak+out"&ei=YC-oTKelMIeasAPQ2O2b
> >DQ&ct=result&id=UmEeAAAAMAAJ#v=onepage&q="freak%20out"&f=false)
> >
> >
> >There's one or two others. It seems like the term has had slightly varying
> >meaning over several centuries.
>
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