[Ads-l] "insane" as a compliment

[Margaret Winters]

I'm sure I've heard it too - it sounds natural.  I think I've encountered it more than once on one of the food/cooking channels in enthusiastically positive descriptions of specific dishes.


Margaret


----------------------------
MARGARET E WINTERS
Former Provost
Professor Emerita - French and Linguistics
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI  48202

mewinters at wayne.edu



________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2018 11:24 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "insane" as a compliment

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
>>
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>>
>
>
> --
> -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
>
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