Are we as a society, angrier than we used to be? Are we so frustrated with our world, as it is, that the least little thing sets us off?
How testy are you? Are you tetchy? Does, irritable, or upset frequently, describe you on most days? This is not a test or valuation of your mental health, or is it?
“That makes me so mad.” Haven’t we all said it?
Should we have said, “that makes me angry?” Does it really matter, how we say it?
Are we angry or are we mad? It seems that there is a fine line between the two. Both are adjectives, words used to describe, in the case of angry, an emotion related to anger. The second, as in mad, the word describes something related to serious mental illness, for example, “I think I might be going mad.”
Brits call the American use of mad to describe, “being beside oneself with anger,” maddening or upsetting. They use the word mad just to describe something insane or crazy.
So, if you’re ticked off beyond belief, is it accurate to describe yourself as mad? In this case you might be bordering on insane, with strong emotion.
And I wonder if that extreme emotion, such as when we tell a beloved, “I’m mad about you,” may not be “mad” in the sense of insane, but just intensity of feeling. Could it mean emotion that is out of control, beyond rational thought?
“Being beside oneself with anger,” was the definition of mad as early as the fourteenth century. After all the word mad derives from the Old English word gemædde which meant “out of one’s mind.” That pretty much means “really, really angry.”
It’s common to use the word mad in this way, throughout the United States; not so much in the United Kingdom. Brits don’t like that we Americans use mad to mean angry. In 1781, labeling it a derogatory, “Americanism,” some British word-critic described our use of “mad,” for “angry,” as “not found in any accurate writer, nor used by any good speaker.”
But mad, meaning angry, is not an Americanism, and not new, because Shakespeare used it (Henry IV – although he used mad to mean crazy more often than mad to mean angry); and in the King James Bible, specifically in Acts 26:11 the word mad is used to mean angry.
As it turns out, most dictionaries acknowledge “mad,” as synonymous with “angry.” Dictionary editors also have found in published works using these two words, that “angry,” is more often used to mean “angry,” than “mad” is used to mean “angry.”
Did you know that it is the job of dictionary writers, not to decide what words mean, but to document how writers across the board in all manner of literature, use certain words? That’s why most dictionary definitions give you a number of possible usages, such as in engineering, or music, or aeronautics, etc.
So, if the bulk of writers use a word a certain way, dictionaries will reflect that common usage, even though some folks might not like that we use a word “that way.” This is the case with the word mad.
Language usage is fluid and adaptive to the vagaries of social norms. Dictionaries chronicle, not prescribe how we adapt words to describe our experience in the world.
Don’t be mad at the dictionary writers. They’re not mad for documenting what we write. Although they might be angry from time to time for being blamed, just for being the messenger.
“People are so mad about things these days.” I’m not so sure that intense anger is anything we can attribute solely to these days. After all, in the classic 1975 film, Network, the longtime news anchor, Howard Beale started the catchphrase, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore,” and people everywhere threw up their sashes and joined in his madness.
Whether you’re mad or whether your angry, either way I think it’s accurate to say you are experiencing an extreme emotion. Most of the dictionary definitions of both words utilize the adjectives, wildly, overcome, extremely, greatly, or strong.
In either case, our mental health is challenged in the current sociopolitical climate. This might not be new to the times, but it might be new to us as a people. Take care, out there and please don’t be mad at the messenger.