-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick McManus [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 15 December 2005 20:58
To: 'Peter Cudmore'
Subject: RE: help!-----lost word
Thank you all P doolally P
I knew where to find it in poetryetc !!
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Cudmore [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 15 December 2005 19:31
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: FW: help!-----lost word
This isn't just a spelling question, is it Patrick?
doolally, a.
[Spoken form of Deolali (Marashtra, India) + TAP n.4]
In full doolally tap. Characterized by an unbalanced state of mind.
1925 FRASER & GIBBONS Soldier & Sailor Words 75 Deolali tap (otherwise
doolally tap), mad, off one's head. Old Army. 1936 J. CURTIS Gilt Kid vii.
76 What's the matter with that bloke? Doolally? Ibid. xviii. 181 'What's up
with you for Christ's sake, kid? Come doolally tap?' Scaley was getting
worried... His pal seemed to have gone mad. 1936 F. RICHARDS Old-Soldier
Sahib iv. 74 Time-expired men sent to Deolalie from their different units
might have to wait for months before a troop-ship fetched them home... The
well-known saying among soldiers when speaking of a man who does queer
things, 'Oh, he's got the Doo-lally tap,' originated, I think, in the
peculiar way men behaved owing to the boredom of that camp. 1943 HUNT &
PRINGLE Service Slang 28 Doolally, very drunk or temporarily insane, without
distinction.
P
PS tried posting to the list, but wretched Outlook sent it from the wrong
address. Bah!
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