# Going Bananas **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 23, 2000, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bananas/38033 "2000-10-23T22:31:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IBBen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85f322/32.png) [@IBBen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IBBen)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2000, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bananas/38033/1 "2000-10-23T22:31:43Z")
I just read through the “hit the ground running” post and a question posed to me by a close friend came to mind. When and why did bananas become a metaphor for insanity? My friend deduced that the banana is the oddest shaped fruit and therefore is different. Hmmmm. Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2000, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bananas/38033/2 "2000-10-24T03:09:01Z")
I don’t know if that’s true, but it has a certain ap-peel. Sorry. Couldn’t resist. ---
**Author:** ![jamesglewisf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a5b964/32.png) [@jamesglewisf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jamesglewisf)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2000, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bananas/38033/3 "2000-10-24T03:11:07Z")
blessedwolf - Be careful. That’s a slippery slope. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2000, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bananas/38033/4 "2000-10-24T03:23:45Z")
Could it have something to do with the monkey-banana relationship? Everyone knows monkeys are crazy. Bananas are crazy by association. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2000, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bananas/38033/5 "2000-10-24T05:55:00Z")
Not monkey, APE. As in going ape for bananas. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2000, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bananas/38033/6 "2000-10-24T09:02:16Z")
The very word is the reason, I think. It sounds like a nonsense word in the vein of ‘doolally’ and ‘wacky’ etc, which aren’t real words at all, but still refer to the effect of being ‘nuts’. ---
**Author:** ![IBBen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85f322/32.png) [@IBBen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IBBen)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2000, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bananas/38033/7 "2000-10-24T17:35:17Z")
Let’s quit monkeying around here, many words sound crazier than bananas. Zenster sounds closest in suggesting “going ape for bananas” but I swear that the phrase I have heard is “going bananas” Doesn’t sound right Zen. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2000, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bananas/38033/8 "2000-10-24T17:41:12Z")
**Banana oil** is old slang for nonsense or foolishness. A **bananahead** is a stupid person. The _Wordsworth Book of Euphemism_ says > [@](#): > > **Off his/her nana or nanny** (from 1894, used in Australia for insane, from **Banana** or “behaving like a nana,” i.e., raving mad.) A Bananalander is a person who lives in Queensland. It’s obvious to me that only an insane person would want to live there. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2000, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bananas/38033/9 "2000-10-24T18:05:02Z")
I was told by a person who had served in India during WWII that going doollally was a term that was coined by troops stationed over there. The full term was “To be tapped with the Dolali hammer” meaning to go slightly mad. He claimed it was a referance to a large military camp where soldiers ended up with a mental institution there. When I visited India myself I went to Bombay and was assured that there was a place of that name in the area(since India is huge I took that with a pinch of salt) and that it had been a British army depot. This could all be total tosh so if you know more I’d appreciate the telling. ---
**Author:** ![IBBen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85f322/32.png) [@IBBen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IBBen)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2000, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-bananas/38033/10 "2000-10-24T18:24:07Z")
And “going doollally” has to with bananas how?