Antedating of "crazy" (submodifer)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Crazy, man!

Occasional collocations of this sort, "Crazy and ([or] because of being)
drunk" and  "crazy and ([or] because of being) busy," evolve into the
current more general adverbial "crazy" meaning "wildly; extraordinarily;
very."

Cf. the old-fashioned jazzy sense of "exciting; marvelous; fine." You know,
"gone."

JL



On Mon, May 26, 2014 at 11:05 AM, Hugo <hugovk at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Hugo <hugovk at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Antedating of "crazy" (submodifer)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "Crazy" (adverb as a submodifier) has been added to Oxford Dictionaries in
> the latest quarterly update:
> http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2014/05/new-words-may-2014/
>
> This is already in the OED, first quoted as "crazy drunk" in 1887. Here's
> an earlier "crazy drunk" (and evidently a reprinting):
>
> New-York daily tribune., February 16, 1843, Image 4:
>
> [Begin]
> From the Boston Mercantile Journal.
> What Intrepidity can Accomplish.
> By Hawser Martingale.
> ...
> He said that the previous evening, after he and his
> mates had turned in, two of his men had lowered
> the sters[?] boat, and gone on board a Spanish felucca
> and procured a quantity of brandy--and that all
> hands, with the exception of an old man and a boy,
> had got "crazy drunk," and had made a sad dis-
> turbance during the night, setting his authority at
> naught, and treating his mates with ridicule and
> contempt--that he bad been ashore to get assis-
> tance, but in vain, and that his officers were then
> in the cabin, in great tribulation, not knowing what
> extravagances or outrages the crew might be in-
> duced, by the spirit of mischief and brandy com-
> bined, to commit.
> [End]
>
>
> http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030213/1843-02-16/ed-1/seq-4/#da=
>
> te1=3D1836&sort=3Ddate&date2=3D1922&searchType=3Dadvanced&language=3D&seque=
>
> nce=3D0&index=3D0&words=3Dcrazy+drunk&proxdistance=3D5&rows=3D20&ortext=3D&=
>
> proxtext=3D&phrasetext=3Dcrazy+drunk&andtext=3D&dateFilterType=3DyearRange&=
> page=3D1
>
>
> As ODO mentions "crazy busy", here's a 1916.
>
> The Ogden standard., August 22, 1916, 4 P.M. CITY EDITION, Page 8, Image 8,
> "Woman's Page", "Zoe Beckley's Story", "David Finds a House-man":
>
> [Begin]
> Oh, forgive me dear. I don't mean to be cross, but I'm crazy busy.
> [End]
>
>
> http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85058396/1916-08-22/ed-1/seq-8/#da=
>
> te1=3D1836&index=3D0&date2=3D1922&searchType=3Dadvanced&language=3D&sequenc=
>
> e=3D0&words=3Dbusy+crazy&proxdistance=3D5&sort=3Ddate&rows=3D20&ortext=3D&p=
>
> roxtext=3D&phrasetext=3Dcrazy+busy&andtext=3D&dateFilterType=3DyearRange&pa=
> ge=3D3
>
> Hugo
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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