[Ads-l] Antedating of "Loony" (Adjective)

[Laurence Horn]

And then there’s (or at least there *was*) the “loony bin”, which was the label of choice, over “loony house”, by the 1950s, at least in NYC.  I don’t know if it has a similarly distinguished (or at least lengthy) legal history, although the "disparaging and now generally considered offensive” certainly fits.  



> On Mar 9, 2025, at 3:26 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> Unsurprisingly, both cites are in HDAS II, though in shorter form.
> 
> Great citations, JL! The OED editors (and I) should have consulted
> your wonderful compendium. Of course, Fred's 1991 article with the
> intriguing Herman Melville citation was written prior to the 1997
> copyright of volume 2 of the Random House Historical Dictionary of
> American Slang (HDAS).
> 
> OED, HDAS, and Green's Dictionary of Slang all have entries for "loony
> house". The OED has the earliest citation in 1903:
> 
> [Begin OED excerpt]
> loony house noun
> disparaging and now generally considered offensive. colloquial.
> 
> A hospital or institution for people with mental illness; a
> psychiatric hospital or home; also (figurative) a place or scene of
> extreme confusion or uproar; cf. earlier lunatic house n.
> 
> 1903 Who struck Billy Patterson? Can you work the 13-14-1 puzzle..?
> These, and numberless other grave problems have..set millions of
> people to thinking and sent thousands to the looney house.
> Ellinwood (Kansas) Leader 5 November
> [End OED excerpt]
> 
> There was a "loony house" in New York in 1845 and 1846 although it was
> not a psychiatric institution. The usage of "loony house" matched the
> informal sense.
> 
> Year: 1846
> Title: Second Report of the Prison Association of New York
> Quote Page 88
> Published by the Association, New York
> https://books.google.com/books?id=y7YXAAAAYAAJ&q=loony#v=snippet&
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> The keeper, however, convinced of the impropriety of thus overcharging
> the prison, selects those whom he thinks most harmless, and they, to
> the number of from 170 to 200, are disposed of in a small building
> adjacent to the prison, called the Loony House. There, under the sole
> control of a captain, selected from their own number, without beds or
> even straw, arranged in rows upon the floor, they pass the night amid
> oaths, and ribaldry, and obscene jests. The old Bridewell, or even
> Newgate itself, might be challenged to produce a picture of greater
> moral deformity, than is there presented.
> [End excerpt]
> 
> Year: 1846
> Book: Proceedings and Documents of the Board of Assistant Aldermen
> From November 17th, 1845, to May 11th, 1846
> Volume 27
> Letter Sent to the Mayor's Office, New York
> Letter Date: February 2, 1846
> Quote Page 129
> Publication Information: Printed by Order of the Board, New York
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> The Grand Inquest, however, have called particular attention to the
> building known as the "Loony House," they represent the condition of
> its inmates to be not only wretched but disgusting, and express the
> opinion that no time should be lost in alleviating their sufferings.
> [End excerpt]
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> I have made enquiry of Morgan L. Mott, Esq. Keeper of the
> Penitentiary, in reference to the fact set forth in the presentment of
> the Grand Jury, and have been informed by him that the persons
> confined in the "Loony House" are the most abject and miserable of the
> vagrants committed by the Police Magistrates to the Penitentiary, that
> they are either diseased, lame, blind, or idiotic, and unable to work,
> and with but few exceptions pay no attention to personal
> cleanliness...
> [End excerpt]
> 
> Garson
> 
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