off the wall
crazy, eccentric
TRANSLATION
bekloppt, verrückt
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Phil Spector: OFF THE WALL? -- Phil Spector, the legendary music producer charged with first-degree murder, is a complex, driven, figure, with a well-documented fascination for firearms. Rolling Stone magazine called Phil Spector's mould-breaking singles "songs that last three minutes and forever".
(BBC News - 14 February, 2003)
(BBC News - 14 February, 2003)
Did you
know?
off the wall
The first reference to this phrase appeared in 1953. The originating metaphor is unknown, but it most likely refers to some sport, a
racquet-sport like squash where a ball may literally be played off the wall.
To say that a person (or an idea) is "off the wall" means that he (or it) is wild, crazy, or eccentric.
This effect must be quite common in English history, we've got lots of synonyms:
absurd, ape, barmy, batty, bizarre, berserk, bonkers, cockeyed, cracked, crackpot, crazed, cuckoo, daft, delirious, demented, deranged, dingy, dippy, eccentric, erratic, flaky, flipped, flipped out, freaked out, fruity, goofy, half-baked, harebrained, haywire, idiotic, inane, insane, kooky, lunatic, loco, loony, ludicrous, mad, maniacal, mental, moonstruck, nonsensical, odd, nuts, nutty, peculiar, potty, preposterous, potty, psycho, screw loose, screwball, screwy, silly, touched, unbalanced, unglued, unhinged, unzipped, wacky, whacko, weird
You'll also hear: He's "one beer short of a sixpack" or "one sandwich short of a picnic"
The first reference to this phrase appeared in 1953. The originating metaphor is unknown, but it most likely refers to some sport, a
racquet-sport like squash where a ball may literally be played off the wall.
To say that a person (or an idea) is "off the wall" means that he (or it) is wild, crazy, or eccentric.
This effect must be quite common in English history, we've got lots of synonyms:
absurd, ape, barmy, batty, bizarre, berserk, bonkers, cockeyed, cracked, crackpot, crazed, cuckoo, daft, delirious, demented, deranged, dingy, dippy, eccentric, erratic, flaky, flipped, flipped out, freaked out, fruity, goofy, half-baked, harebrained, haywire, idiotic, inane, insane, kooky, lunatic, loco, loony, ludicrous, mad, maniacal, mental, moonstruck, nonsensical, odd, nuts, nutty, peculiar, potty, preposterous, potty, psycho, screw loose, screwball, screwy, silly, touched, unbalanced, unglued, unhinged, unzipped, wacky, whacko, weird
You'll also hear: He's "one beer short of a sixpack" or "one sandwich short of a picnic"
