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moonstruck

mad

TRANSLATION

moonstruck = vernarrt, liebestoll, geistig verwirrt

STATISTICS

IN THE PRESS

“There are extreme lunar mythologists so completely MOONSTRUCK with their idea that they will not admit that any other phenomenon could lend itself to interpretation except that of earth’s nocturnal satellite.”

Ivan Strenski - Malinowski and the Work of Myth

Did you
know?

moonstruck
adjective

affected by (or as if by) the moon: such as
a : mentally unbalanced
b : romantically sentimental
c : lost in fantasy or reverie

Merriam-Webster

Use the adjective moonstruck to mean crazy or insane, connect it to being irrationally lovesick or romantic, or to living in a fantasy world.


ORIGIN

Moonstruck stems from an ancient belief that the moon could actually cause insanity. The first written use is found in John Milton’s 1674 epic poem “Paradise Lost” where “moon-struck madness” is included in a list of humanity’s afflictions caused by original sin.


GONDOLAS IN ROME?

During the production of the 1992 film ‘Once Upon a Crime’, Richard Lewis became MOONSTRUCK with his sexy co-star, actress Sean Young.

Lewis later recalled that he had hoped to work with her a little more. “I asked Dino De Laurentiis, the producer, to throw in a sex scene in a gondola,” Lewis explained. “He said, ‘No, we’re in Rome.’”


SYNONYMS

English contains numerous synonyms for mentally unbalanced, including:

as mad as a March hare, as mad as a hatter, away with the fairies, barking mad, bats in the belfry, birdbrained, brain-dead, cockamamy, cockeyed, cuckoo, daft as a brush, doolally, dotty, dunderheaded, feather-brained, foaming at the mouth, gaga, half-baked, hare-brained, having a screw loose, having kangaroos in the top paddock, lame-brained-loco, loony, MOONSTRUCK, mutton-headed, nobody home, non compos (mentis), not all there, not quite right, nuts, nutty as a fruitcake, off the rails, off-the-wall, one card shy of a full deck, one sandwich short of a picnic, out in left field, out of one’s head, out to lunch, pea-brained, scatterbrained, touched in the head, unhinged, wooden-headed

and numerous synonyms for romantically irrational, including:

beguiled, besotted, bewitched, bowled over by, captivated by, carried away by, carrying a torch for, charmed, consumed with desire for, crazy about, dotty about, eat sleep and breathe, enamoured, enchanted, enraptured, enthralled, entranced, fanatical about, far gone on, gaga about, have a thing about, head over heels, hopelessly in love with, hung up on, infatuated by, love-struck, lovey-dovey, mad about, mesmerised, MOONSTRUCK, nuts about, obsessed with, possessed by, potty about, really into, silly about, single-minded about, smitten with, spellbound, sweet on, swept off one’s feet by, taken with, turned on by, twitterpated by, under the spell of, wild about


LUNAR IDIOMS

- over the moon = to be extremely happy and/or excited (She was over the moon about the visit of her daughter.)

- once in a blue moon = a long period of time; a very rare occurrence (Lottery players win big, once in a blue moon.)

- promise the moon = to make a big promise, to promise something that you can’t give or to promise something that is difficult to keep (I was promised the moon at the job interview, a year later I’m very disappointed.)

- shoot for the moon = to set high goals to do something very difficult, or almost impossible (We need an ambitious development team that will shoot for the moon.)

- love someone to the moon and back = to love someone very deeply (Jim loved Julie to the moon and back.)


PRACTICE OWAD in an English conversation, discuss something like:

“Their new head of marketing is MOONSTRUCK, I wonder how long he will last.”


HERZLICHEN DANK to all readers helping me keep OWAD alive with single or monthly donations at:

https://donorbox.org/please-become-a-friend-of-owad-3

Paul Smith

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