Phrase of the Day: Basket Case
Warning: This one is kinda grisly, so you might want to skip it.
Today this phrase usually refers to insanity or extreme nervousness, with emphasis on an inability to function. But its history is considerably uglier. It’s British army slang from World War I, where advances in medicine meant that doctors could save the lives of wounded soldiers to a far greater extent than ever before. This meant that the army had to transport significant numbers of the wounded back to Britain to recuperate.
There were many different types of wounded. Some were purely psychological (called shell shock at the time), some were blinded or had respiratory problems from the poisonous gases used on the battlefield, and some were amputees. Quadruple amputees—those who had lost the use of all four limbs—were particularly difficult to transport. And so they were carried back to Britain in baskets. Hence they were “basket cases”.
I think I’ll avoid this phrase from now on.