bat shit crazy

 

the RFK Jr. hearings have put this term into constant replay. it had me wondering what it's origin is.

we have bats on property & they usually delight. abt 6 years ago I startd a poem calld "Nite Swim" like this:

            little draculas

            swoop down

            toward pool

            but

            I feel

            no menace

I simply don't know what abt bat excrement is crazy. I began searching. there is much speculation abt the term's origin. it seems to derive from "bats in the belfry" which traces to circa 1900. however that doesn't answer the shit element of the expression. there is "anecdotal evidence" that is dates to the 1950s where it appears in the US military. the OED has a confusing entry putting it at 1950 but as another term for "bullshit." others give credit to various writers & a cartoonist.

whatever its birth & precise meaning the term has a certain power & current daily usage concerning what's happening in Washington.