[Ads-l] "insane" as a compliment

[Laurence Horn]

I’m pretty sure I’ve heard positive “insane” on sports recap shows to describe plays.  Usually as a predicate adjective, though.  Googling “That play was insane” pullsl up a lot of relevant hits. There’s this one with a musical connection via UrbanDic:

insane
Very, very, very talented.
"Wow the drummer from that band in EyesofRuin is insane!!! 

LH

> On Jul 17, 2018, at 11:17 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Possibly because his lyrics are "swingin' like insane," to quote a
> catch-phrase of a StL DJ, back in the '50's. Remember "Crazy, Man, Crazy,"
> by Bill Haley & the Comets?
> 
> On Tue, Jul 17, 2018 at 10:04 AM Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
> 
>> A voice on NPR just burbled (lauditorily) that a particular individual "is
>> an insane lyricist!"
>> 
>> 
>> --Charlie
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org