Nuts!

This is a blog mostly about English. Specifically, it is about the word: Nuts.

The word "nut" was first used to denote a hard seed. It shares its origin with the pre-Germanic "knu-" as in, later, nucleus. But that was just the beginning of its long and varied journey through the English language.

Here, I'll just give you what online etymology says about it:
Nuts: "crazy," 1846, from earlier be nutts upon "be very fond of" (1785), which is possibly from nuts (n., pl.) "any source of pleasure" (1617), from nut (q.v.).

Sense influenced probably by metaphoric application of nut to "head" (1846, e.g. to be off one's nut "be insane," 1860). Nut "crazy person, crank" is attested from 1903, (British form nutter first attested 1958).

Connection with the slang "testicle" sense has tended to nudge it toward taboo. "On the N.B.C. network, it is forbidden to call any character a nut; you have to call him a screwball." ["New Yorker," Dec. 23, 1950] "Please eliminate the expression 'nuts to you' from Egbert's speech." [Request from the Hays Office regarding the script of "The Bank Dick," 1940] This desire for avoidance accounts for the euphemism nerts (c.1925). Nutty "crazy" is first attested 1898.

Isn't that a lot of information?

And can we pause for a moment and wonder just how much money goes into telling people in this country that they can't say "nut" on N.B.C? By the way, in Europe, where there's no FCC, the commercials are a lot funnier.

But anyway, the best part about the myriad uses of nuts is the opportunity for unwitting puns from small children. For example, Meyer and Adam (who are both nuts, by the way) have been really into collecting nuts in the park. And then we have the following conversation:

Meyer: "Kelly, I'm about to go play a game. So I need you to keep my nuts safe."
Kelly: "Meyer, why don't you put your nuts somewhere safe yourself?"
Meyer: "I don't know where a safe place to put my nuts is."
Kelly: "What about your room?"
Meyer: (thinking about it) "Well, will you put them there?"
Kelly: "Meyer, nobody can take care of your nuts except for you."
Adam (running in): "Kelly, do you want to play with my nuts while I go to the bathroom?"
Kelly: "What? No. No thank you."

I know it's juvenile but it's funny every time. Lately I've been reminding Adam and Meyer, frequently, that they're nuts. Meyer has cleared up some of the mystery surrounding his own nuttiness. For example on the way home today, when Meyer was running in concentric circles, shouting rhyming nonsense at the birds and giggling maniacally...

Kelly: "Wow! The cold is making you nuts!"
Meyer: (yelling into the sky): "It's not the cold! I was just born funny!"
Adam: (matter-of-factly) "For me it's the cold."

But besides Adam and Meyer, things are going well. We eat well. We sleep well, and late. I've been submitting some stories, so we'll see how that goes. On Saturday our friends Jessica & Liam cooked us a Turkish meal spiced with things they picked up from their holiday trip to Istanbul. It was delicious.

I was happy to learn that Turkish Delight is, in fact, real. It isn't something the White Witch made up to lure Edmund away from Aslan. Now that I've had it, I have to say I don't blame the kid. Not that we were ever highly convinced of my allegience to Good anyway. It depends on what Good can do for me.

And that's about it for now, really. It's a lovely life, but its largely home-based. Lots of writing and sleeping. We sleep. And then, when we're done sleeping, eating and writing, it's usually time to go see Adam and Meyer. And play with their nuts.