Obviously there isn’t gonna be a poll. Couldn’t possibly be enough options.
Anyway … I know some persons (including me, to tell the truth) who try to avoid using the word “crazy” as a descriptor for other people. If you’re not one of those people, can you articulate what you are most likely to mean when you use that term? If you are unwilling to use the term, why?
Do I even need to say ‘I am not a psychiatrist’?
People with mental or emotional issues, when the are not directed at me, are simply people with mental or emotional issues.
When those issues are directed at and effect me, then that person is ‘crazy’.
I use the term liberally - I typically use it to mean: the thing that you just said is so far away from being correct that I have no polite words to use, so I’m going with “crazy”.
A la: “Now that’s just crazy talk” or “you’re talking crazy”
No. I do criticize ideas, and would tell anyone “That is one crazy idea you have.” Or actions, as in “You did one crazy thing.”
I almost never criticize people. I would never say “You are one crazy person.” I might say “I think you are crazy,” but I am entitled to my opinions.
I find “crazy” to be suitable shorthand for any the following:
Erratic, narcissitic, bizarre, weird, violent, quick-tempered, irrational, manic, hyper, excessively moody, self-destructive, posessing a skewed perception of reality or prone to poor decision making.
In casual conversation I would use the term, because I believe in plain language where possible. In a business setting I can sling euphemisms with the best of them.
I calculate that my definition is close enough to the definition used by the listener to result in effective communication.
There are a couple of things that would get the Crazy label from me:
[ul]
[li]Contextually inappropriate behavior or speech.[/li][li]Seriously illogical patterns or emotional responses.[/li][/ul]
That was what I came to post.
I use it as a synonym for crazed. If their actions or cognitive processes could be described as crazed, they’re crazy.
This is an excellent list. I find that I use it fairly frequently but usually under my breath because the last thing you want is to piss off someone you already know is crazy.
For the most part, when I say someone’s crazy I really mean that his/her ideas are crazy. Crazy in the sense of bizarre, illogical, or way unscientific.
I use crazy a little too often. Generally heard coming out of my mouth as “She/He/They are chock full of the crazy.” I also apply that same description for me and my family members.
It’s like that Supreme Court justice said - I know crazy when I see it.
Nutcakes…fruitbats…loons…you just gotta know the vibe.
Nope. I use “cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.” I’m too crazy myself to be applying that label to anybody else.
For me, a mix of those all at once:
manic, excessively moody, self-destructive, possessing a skewed perception of reality
When I call someone crazy, it usually means funny (haha funny) in an offbeat way. When someone does highly illogical and frustrating things or has no sense of boundaries or social skills, I typically refer to them as “batshit insane.”
A crazy person is someone without a physical medical condition who responds in an unexpected, highly-inappropriate way to normal stimuli.
That is a good list. I do refer to people as being crazy and include myself in that category. I have many of the qualities on that list and think of myself as crazy, though I like to think of myself as “high functioning”. Life has taught me (mostly) when to keep my mouth shut and that if I’m harming no-one and no thing, nobody needs to know that I really am crazy.
I had a woman come to me today for help. She’d spent $2200 on a new computer and she didn’t know if it was a Macintosh or a PC. That’s crazy.
Doing most things I wouldn’t do is crazy. So is doing a lot of things I do. It’s a compliment.
I quite often refer to people as “crazy”. It’s a much less loaded and less insulting term than “mentally ill”. Saying someone is “crazy” is just a combination of “I don’t understand you” and “I think the reason I don’t understand you lies in your non-understandability, not my failure to ‘get’ you”.
Saying someone is “mentally ill” is actually a much nastier ad hominem attack: “The so-called ‘thoughts’ you appear to be expressing are just electrical static; your brain isn’t a mind, it’s a misbehaving bag of neurons.”
Sometimes I use “crazy” to mean “another person who has been through the mental hygiene system wringer”, and it intended wryly. Sometimes I mean it the same way most folks do: you’re freakin’ nuts.
When I describe someone as crazy, I mean they’re weird, funny, loud, energetic, silly, offbeat, uninhibited. It’s generally a compliment - I find people like that entertaining and fun to be around. My girlfriend is crazy, so is my sister.