When fact meets fantasy

Add comment December 12th, 2008

Do you know someone who suffers from the “screaming meemies”? This colorful term is slang for “extreme nervous tension.”

As might be expected, it has a rather unpleasant origin. It referred to the noisy artillery shells fired by the Germans during World War II. Hearing them screaming as they flew nearby must have been a horrifying experience.

I recently encountered the term miswritten as “screaming meanies.” I think it may have been a generational thing.

The villains in “Yellow Submarine,” the 1968 movie featuring animated versions of the Beatles, were called “Blue Meanies.” They weren’t easy on the eyes or the ears, and they also used a disturbing arsenal of weapons. Of course, it was all imaginary.

I’m guessing the fanciful and the fearsome merged to produce the mistaken phrase.