Buzz
Theodore Roosevelt once remarked, “black care rarely sits behind a rider whose pace is fast enough.” The ‘black care’ he mentioned referred to depression—yet this was just one of many expressions used to describe the condition over time. Here’s a look at several of these historical terms.
1. Black Ass
“I certainly have the Black Ass today,” author Ernest Hemingway wrote in 1945. “Miss Mary so much it makes me sick… So am being black-assed and temperamental.” Green’s Dictionary of Slang defines ‘black ass’ as “a state of depression or disgust.”
2. Black-Dog
As noted in The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, this expression meaning “melancholic, depressed” originated in the UK in 1826.
3. Blue Devils
The use of 'the blues' to describe feelings of sadness or melancholy dates back to the 1740s. The term 'blue devil,' on the other hand, specifically refers to a period of depression and is named for how 'depressed [blue] feelings... bedevil the sufferer,' as explained in Green’s Dictionary of Slang. The phrase first appeared as early as 1756 and remains in use today.
4. and 5. Down in the Chops and Down in the Gills
Instead of saying you're down in the dumps, try using 'down in the chops' (referring to the mouth), a term from 1830, or 'down in the gills,' which dates back to 1853.
6. Got the Morbs
This 1880 phrase refers to 'temporary melancholia.'
7. Mean Reds
According to Green’s Dictionary, this expression was coined by Truman Capote in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958) and later appeared in the 1961 film adaptation.
Holly: “Listen. You know those days when you get the mean reds?” Paul: “The ‘mean reds?’ You mean, like the blues?” Holly: “No. The blues are because you’re getting fat or it’s been raining too long. You’re just sad, that’s all. The mean reds are something else. Suddenly, you’re afraid, but you don’t know why. Don’t you ever get that feeling?”
8. Mubble-fubbles
The Oxford English Dictionary defines this old term, dating back to 1589, as “a state of depression or melancholy; despondency, low spirits. Often seen in the phrase ‘in (or out of) one's mubble-fubbles.’” A similar word, 'mulligrubs,' appeared about a decade later.
9. Megrims
In its plural form, megrims refers to “low spirits; melancholy, depression,” a usage that dates back to the 1590s. In its singular form, megrim can refer to a headache or migraine (dating back to 1440) or dizziness and vertigo (often accompanying a migraine, first recorded in 1595).
10. Whips and Jingles
Sometimes referred to as whips and jangles, this term emerged in the mid-1940s to describe nervousness and depression. By the 1950s, it was also used to refer to “withdrawal from alcohol or narcotics,” according to Green’s.
11. Wiffle-Woffles
Wiffle-woffles first appeared in the 1840s as British slang for a stomach ache. By 1904, according to Green’s, the term was also used in Scotland to describe “a state of depression.”
