Much as I’d like to dwell on the University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team and their chances in the NCAA tournament (Go Badgers!!), devoting a post to this American brand of self-indulgence seems especially superficial considering the military madness hreatening Ukraine, the United States, and the rest of the world (see my blogpost “The Unfulfilled Right and Sinclair Lewis“) . Instead, we’re delving into the origins of the idiom which heralds spring’s onset. Something in the air this time of year may cause such folly to occur.
Many scholars associate the notion of “March madness” with the madness of the March Hare in Lewis Carroll‘s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Borrowed from the British idiom, “mad as a March hare,” the expression captures the exuberant, even violent breeding behavior of European hares in early March. It also has a long history having first appeared in playwright John Heywood‘s collection of British proverbs published in 1546.
In Lewis’ story, the Hare acts as he does because the Mad Hatter “murdered the time” in the course of singing to the Queen of Hearts. As a result, the hare now acts riotously as though it were always teatime.
The fatal ramifications of the Hatter’s actions provide the common thread in the origin of a related expression “mad as a hatter.” Whether it derives from the mercury poisoning of 19th-century hatters, the compassionate acts of 17th-century hermit, Roger Crab, or the pronunciation approximation of the English word “adder” with “hatter” meaning “venomous as a viper,” the expression has adopted a fatal and fatalistic connotation.
Regardless of its origins, the expression’s historical associations are profound. Abraham Lincoln‘s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was shot and killed by Union army soldier Thomas H. Corbett. Though Corbett was arrested for not taking Booth alive as ordered, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton released him from prison because of the public’s regard for him as a war hero. He returned to his original occupation of hat-making upon release, but said to have grown more mad than once realized, he was thrown into an insane asylum from which he escaped and was never seen again.
It is entirely possible such unrelated events result from pure coincidence. In Corbett’s case it’s likely the pressures of being the person who killed Lincoln’s assassin stoked whatever “madness” was said to characterize his behavior before he entered the Union army. Though idioms do express a culture’s regard towards the way things happen, they don’t explain how or why they do. It’s equally possible we have reached the point where hyperbole is reality. Athletes and coaches, professional and amateur, have backed away from competition in recent years because the mental and physical demands are too great. In some instances, they or their families were threatened with bodily harm by overzealous fans.
So, ask yourself: when cheering hard fouls or cursing referees’ during the rough-and-tumble play that marks athletes’ performances: am I engaging in a socialized form of venting the angst in my everyday life? Or am I freeing more primitive urges which subjugate in a violent way any and all people with whom I disagree, much as Russia is now doing with Ukraine?
What do you think? Leave a Reply and let me know below.
