📅 Drive (Someone) Up the Wall: A Look at Testing the Limits of Sanity 🔨

Unearth the origins and humor behind driving someone completely bananas, likened to a desperate wall climb!

🏗️ Drive (someone) up the wall, to

Definition: To harry someone to the point of mad desperation. Picture the most exasperating scenario where one feels the uncontrollable urge to desperately clamber up a wall to escape. 🧗‍♂️

Origins: Dating back to the sixteenth century, the precursor “drive to the wall” illustrates going as far as possible in an attempt to escape a pest. Sir Thomas More once felt himself “even at the harde walle” in 1557. The vivid imagery of addicts climbing walls in desperation, a stark behavior noted in the twentieth century, solidified this idiom.

Related Terms:

Drive to drink: To exasperate someone to the point of needing a drink
Around the bend: Going slightly insane
Mad as a hatter 🕴️: Completely eccentric or crazy
Round the twist: Extremely confused or insane
Lose one’s marbles: To lose one’s sanity

Humor-Filled Quote: “Mad as a hatter,” said Gillian Soames complacently. “Stark raving bonkers. Up the wall. Round the twist.” - Robert Barnard, Death and the Chaste Apprentice

Related Proverbs & Expressions:

“Patience has its limits, take it too far and it’s cowardice.” – George Jackson
“Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough.” – Mark Twain (in the context of “drive to drink”)

Suggested Literature:

Books:
- Death and the Chaste Apprentice by Robert Barnard 📖
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (a tale of bureaucratic insanity)
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey (exploring madness)
Songs:
- “Mad World” by Tears for Fears 🎶
- “I’m Going Slightly Mad” by Queen
- “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley
Movies:
- As Good as It Gets (1997) 🎬 (about a man’s mental breakdown and recovery journey)
- The Shining (1980) 👀 (depicts a man’s descent into madness)
- Silver Linings Playbook (2012) (a heartwarming take on mental health struggles)

### What does "drive someone up the wall" mean? - [x] To harry someone to the point of mad desperation - [ ] To drive someone to a physical or emotional wall - [ ] To make someone build a wall - [ ] None of the above > **Explanation:** "Drive someone up the wall" means to harry someone to the point where they feel desperate enough to metaphorically climb a wall to escape their aggravation. ### Which phrase is similar to ‘drive someone up the wall’? - [ ] Calming butterflies in the stomach - [x] Around the bend - [ ] Chasing the wind - [ ] Walking on air > **Explanation:** "Around the bend" is similar to "drive someone up the wall," as both suggest exasperating someone to the brink of craziness or desperation. ### True or False: The idiom "drive someone up the wall" was first coined in the twentieth century. - [ ] True - [x] False > **Explanation:** While the expression we commonly use today dates from the twentieth century, its earlier form, "drive to the wall," dates back to the sixteenth century. ### What image best represents the origin of "drive someone up the wall"? - [x] Someone climbing a wall to escape - [ ] Someone driving a car into a wall - [ ] Building a wall of bricks - [ ] Walking on the walls of a room > **Explanation:** The most representative image is someone clambering up a wall in desperate effort to escape an unbearable situation. ### Which is an example of someone being "driven up the wall"? - [ ] Enjoying a peaceful evening in a garden - [ ] Having a relaxing bath - [x] Listening to a nonstop, annoying sound - [ ] Daydreaming > **Explanation:** Listening to a nonstop, annoying sound can drive someone up the wall by pushing them to the edge of their patience and sanity.

Inspirational Thought: Enlightenment sometimes follows the path taken up the wall of desperation. Remember, resilience isn’t found at the foot of challenges but rather at the summit.

chtest ForNow, your friend in weaving words, Whimsical Wordsmith