# crazy (describing a person or an action)



## yuechu

大家好！

I know that in Chinese, "crazy" can be translated using the word "疯了". (For example: "你疯了吧！"）
If you're describing an action opposed to a person, can you still use this word, or is it better to use a different one? For example, some people may take pictures of themselves with their head in an alligator's or crocodile's mouth. I think "That's crazy!".

Thanks!


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## SimonTsai

We tell a man's character from his behaviour. If a man did something crazy, we then infer that he's crazy. We generally don't restrict the craziness to that thing. (But exceptions exist; for example, '這太狂啦!' Note that '狂' here is often complimentary.)


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## Deinonychus

I would say "你疯了吗/你疯了吧" is used frequently in mainland spoken language to express one's extreme opposition or surprise.


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## SuperXW

Except for 疯了, another common expression (maybe even more common and native) is 有病 / 神经病.
E.g.
你有病啊！？
你神经病吗！？

The direct translation of “That's crazy” is 那太疯狂了, but it sounds a bit 翻译腔.
Let's face the fact, a thing can't be crazy. A person can.


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## SimonTsai

'你有病啊', '你神經病', and '你腦子有病是不是' are all very natural expressions. But they are very offensive, exceedingly more than 'you are crazy', so use them with caution.


SimonTsai said:


> But exceptions exist; for example, '這太狂啦!' Note that '狂' here is often complimentary.


Here's more on the expression '這太狂啦': '狂' there means that something is so extreme that it's unbelievable; imagine that you were a classmate of von Neumann's, reading his dissertation. (A synonym of this is '這太神啦'. It is very informal, too.)


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## SuperXW

SimonTsai said:


> '你有病啊', '你神經病', and '你腦子有病是不是' are all very natural expressions. But they are very offensive, exceedingly more than 'you are crazy', so use them with caution.


Agree. 疯了 is more accurate.


SimonTsai said:


> Here's more on the expression '這太狂啦': '狂' there means that something is so extreme that it's unbelievable; imagine that you were a classmate of von Neumann's, reading his dissertation. (A synonym of this is '這太神啦'. It is very informal, too.)


Although understandable and acceptable, in Mainland, 这太狂啦 is not as popular as other expressions mentioned.
Plus, when we say someone (usually not something) 太狂啦, we usually mean the one is too 狂妄 "arrogant", not "crazy" or "unbelievable".
E.g. 这小子太狂啦，得教训教训他！


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## SimonTsai

SuperXW said:


> Although understandable and acceptable, in Mainland, 这太狂啦 is not as popular as other expressions mentioned.


That is not surprising. Actually, 這太狂啦 is popular exclusively amongst the young people.


> we usually mean the one is too 狂妄 [....] E.g., 这小子太狂啦，得教训教训他！


That's perfectly possible, but I'm not sure if it's the usual one. Perhaps my experience is different. (I was sometimes described as 神人 in high school. My physics teacher once said, '你們的報告我改完了, 然後你們班有一個, 超狂! 那報告根本就像老師在唸物理系的時候寫的一樣!')


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## Jake_Chan

yuechu said:


> "That's crazy!"


这简直是疯了。

'这' refers the action. '这' is more natural than '那' in Chinese.

'简直是' indicates emphasis.


'这简直是疯了' can have different English expressions.

*例*：天气这么糟糕还去散步，*这简直是疯了*。
*It is madness to* go walking in such awful weather.



'疯' can be used to describe people, as shown in post 2 to 7, and actions.


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## yuechu

Thank you all for your help! 



SuperXW said:


> Let's face the fact, a thing can't be crazy. A person can.


In a literal sense, that's true!


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## stephenlearner

yuechu said:


> their head in an alligator's or crocodile's mouth. I think "That's crazy!".


Might be off topic. When I see this kind of pictures, my typical comments are:

不要命了！
疯了！
找死呢！


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## henter

在中国内地我们会说你脑袋进水了吧或者脑袋秀逗。 智商欠费也能用。 还有一个比较不礼貌的用法是你脑袋被驴踢了？有时候会用250去形容做傻事的人。还有一个用法是呆子。这个可以用于男女情人之间。女的叫男的呆子。有时候算是调情。


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## SimonTsai

henter said:


> 在中国内地我们会说你脑袋进水了吧或者脑袋秀逗。


Just adding that, here in Taiwan, 阿搭馬 is an informal equivalent of 腦袋.


> 智商欠费也能用。


This is new to me. Instead, I've heard people around me say 低能. 低能 is a pejoritive term disparaging the intelligently disabled; the same goes for 智障.


> 有时候会用 250 去形容做傻事的人。


This is also new to me. I was wondering why it was 250.


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## henter

SimonTsai said:


> Just adding that, here in Taiwan, 阿搭馬 is an informal equivalent of 腦袋.
> 
> This is new to me. Instead, I've heard people around me say 低能. 低能 is a pejoritive term disparaging the intelligently disabled; the same goes for 智障.
> 
> This is also new to me. I was wondering why it was 250.


智商欠费是个网络梗。如果不交话费，欠费的手机会被停掉。智商欠费这里就是暗喻。不好意思，为啥用250去形容智商有问题的人这个我也不知道。大家都是这样用。阿搭馬这个在内地没听说过。 我只知道台湾地区的人用白目去形容某个人不识相、乱说话。 几年前常常看台湾的综艺节目，尤其是康熙来了。自然也学了一些台湾同袍用的词。据说内地的社交apps不少台湾人也用。估计有些内地用法在台湾地区也会出现的。这些内地网络用语我其实好多也不懂。也要查百度才知道啥意思。


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## henter

对了，我以前学过一个很少用的英文词也是用来形容说某个人疯了。这个词就是meshuga。 比如写"you want to woo a scally like her? She doesn't even respect you. You are meshuga." 这个例子是我自己编的。 我在国外的英文媒体从没发现过有记者用这个词。只记得有一本俚语词典提到过这个词。


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## SuperXW

henter said:


> 在中国内地我们会说你脑袋进水了吧或者脑袋秀逗。 智商欠费也能用。 还有一个比较不礼貌的用法是你脑袋被驴踢了？有时候会用250去形容做傻事的人。还有一个用法是呆子。这个可以用于男女情人之间。女的叫男的呆子。有时候算是调情。


这些是有时代或地域局限性的说法，相信英语里也有很多。
“秀逗”这个词的路径特别长，来源于英语short-日语-台湾-大陆。
用于男女之间打情骂俏的叫法就更多了，我的圈子里“呆子”反而比较少用，“呆子”首先让我想到猴哥叫猪八戒。
“疯了”是最接近原文的通用说法。


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## henter

SuperXW said:


> 这些是有时代或地域局限性的说法，相信英语里也有很多。
> “秀逗”这个词的路径特别长，来源于英语short-日语-台湾-大陆。
> 用于男女之间打情骂俏的叫法就更多了，我的圈子里“呆子”反而比较少用，“呆子”首先让我想到猴哥叫猪八戒。
> “疯了”是最接近原文的通用说法。


是的。有好多地方中文用法外地人很难懂。英文当中这个也算俚语用法或者叫做所谓的idiom, 比如off one's gourd 和go ape. 还有让某个人发疯的用法drive someone batty. Throw a wobbly这个也可以用。Yet 这个一般指某人生气发怒。Blow a gasket也有类似的意思。 如果说某个人怪和有点蠢可以用gonzo, 比如写you are gonzo if you think a venal politician like him is going to tackle graft.


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## henter

男女之间现在在我国用的最多的就是老公和老婆，包括未婚的也用。也有的人用呆子去形容傻乎乎的男友。有个英国俚语swimbo是女友的意思。 还有个英文词bae中文意思可以是男友也可以是女友.


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