Mad as a hatter

Mad as a hatter

Oswald is as mad as a hatter, but he's my most interesting friend.

meaning : completely crazy, strange, eccentric(별난, 괴벽스런)
 
origin : Lewis Carroll created the character of the Mad Hatter in his classic book Alice in Wonderland. The expression "mad as a hatter" comes from the early 1800s. One possible origin is a snake called an adder. People in England thought that if they were bitten by an adder, its poison would make them insane. Somme people pronounced "adder" as "atter", do if you acted crazy, you were as "mad as an atter," which later became "hatter." Another explanation of the expression's origin is that people who worked in felt-hat factories in the 1800s inhaled fumes of mercuric nitrate, and, as a result, developed twitches, jumbled their speech, and grew confused. The condition was sometimes mistaken for madness and may have given birth to the saying "mad as a hatter"

 *in·hale
vt.
1<공기·가스등을>들이쉬다,흡입하다
2《구어》 (열심히)먹다
*hatter : 모자파는 사람, adder : 살무사의 일종, insane : 제정신이 아닌
*ni·trate ni·trate
1. 【화학】 질산염;질산칼륨,질산소다(=sodium ~);니트로셀룰로오스(제품)
2. 질산 비료
━vt.질산(염)으로 포화(飽和)처리하다;질산(염)으로 바꾸다;니트로화(化)하다
*jumble 뒤죽박죽이 된