mad as a hatter
colloquial phrase

- crazy, demented, insane

- severely mentally unsound

Dictionary dot Com / Merriam-Webster

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PHRASE ORIGIN

"Mad as a hatter" is a colloquial English phrase used in conversation to suggest (lightheartedly) that a person is suffering from insanity.

There are many theories about the possible origin of the saying, the most common being mercury poisoning among hat-makers – In 18th and 19th century England, mercury was used in the production of felt, which was commonly used in the hat-making trade at the time. Long-term use of mercury products often resulted in mercury poisoning-induced erethism among hat-makers.

In the late 19th-century United States, a notable example occurred in Danbury, Connecticut, where hat making was a major industry. Instances of erethism were so widespread among hat-makers, the condition became known locally as the "Danbury Shakes." It was characterized by slurred speech, tremors, stumbling, and in extreme cases hallucinations.

The earliest known appearance of "mad as a hatter" in print is in an 1829 issue of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, predating the Hatter from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by several decades.

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THE MAD HATTER’S REVENGE
The Intriguing Story of Lincoln's Assassin

Boston Corbett shot John Wilkes Booth on April 26, 1865, in a tobacco barn in Virginia, 12 days after Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.

Corbett spent his early life as a hat maker before joining the army, where he had a reputation for being "mad as a hatter”.  It is believed that mercury poisoning affected Corbett’s judgement, in particular in going against orders when he had Booth cornered in a barn and shot him dead instead of taking him alive.

After investigation, Corbett was forgiven for his disobedience, but left the army and went back to hat making. After a few years, Corbett suffered further mental illness and was put in an insane asylum. He managed to escape and was never seen again.

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SYNONYMS

aberrant, bananas, bats, batty, bonkers, berserk, certifiable, crazed, crazy, cuckoo, daft, delirious, demented, deranged, disordered, disturbed, dotty, hallucinating, insane, lunatic, MAD AS A HATTER, maniacal, maniac, mental, mentally ill, moonstruck, not all there, nutty, off one's rocker, out of one's mind, out to lunch, potty, unbalanced, unhinged, unstable, unsound, wacky, wacko

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“You might think that MAD AS A HATTER is derived from Lewis Carroll's ‘Alice's Adventures in Wonderland’ but it appeared in print in an 1829 issue of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, predating Alice by several decades.”

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