[Vocabulary] He's a little nuts.

[jiamajia]

He's a little nuts.

How do we interpret the sentence? 'Nuts' is a noun here?

 

[jiamajia]

In this case it means that he is not fully sane. Nuts here means a bit crazy.

I see. 'Nuts' is a whole adjective here. I thought it was the plural form of nut.

 

[Raymott]

'Nuts' is the plural of 'nut'. But that's not its meaning here - although the adjective 'nuts' might have arisen from "He's got nuts in his head."
Anyway, it's a predicate adjective; you can't use it before the noun:
The man is nuts. Right.
*He is a nuts man. Wrong.

Here are a few other such adectives. They are not common.
The man is bonkers. (This means the same.)
She'll be apples.
Everything's coming up roses.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

 

[bhaisahab]

'Nuts' is the plural of 'nut'. But that's not its meaning here - although the adjective 'nuts' might have arisen from "He's got nuts in his head."
Anyway, it's a predicate adjective; you can't use it before the noun:
The man is nuts. Right.
*He is a nuts man. Wrong.

Here are a few other such adectives. They are not common.
The man is bonkers. (This means the same.)
She'll be apples.
Everything's coming up roses.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

What does "she'll be apples" mean Ray? I've never come across that one.

 

[Raymott]

What does "she'll be apples" mean Ray? I've never come across that one.

Good question. It's an Aussie saying.
She'll be Apples!
Urban Dictionary: she'll be apples
Australian slang dictionary

 

[emsr2d2]

'Nuts' is the plural of 'nut'. But that's not its meaning here - although the adjective 'nuts' might have arisen from "He's got nuts in his head."
Anyway, it's a predicate adjective; you can't use it before the noun:
The man is nuts. Right.
*He is a nuts man. Wrong.

Though "He is a nuts man" isn't possible, we do have a related adjective in BrE that goes before the noun: nutty.

He's a nutty bloke = He's a crazy man

We also put nutty at the end of the sentence sometimes instead of nuts.

He's a bit nutty.

 

[Tdol]

I have seen bonkers used as an attributive adjective- a bonkers bloke.

 

[euncu]

On American TV shows, I frequently hear the word "nutjob", which is used for crazy or eccentric people. Is it a modified form of "nuts" and is it vulgar, more or less than nuts?

Thanks for replies in advance.

 

[Raymott]

On American TV shows, I frequently hear the word "nutjob", which is used for crazy or eccentric people. Is it a modified form of "nuts" and is it vulgar, more or less than nuts?

Thanks for replies in advance.

No, it's not vulgar. Such a person is also a 'wingnut'.
There's probably no end to the epithets we use for crazy people!

 

[emsr2d2]

mad, crazy, barking, loony, nutty, nuts, looney-tunes, nutty as a fruitcake, bonkers, nutjob, wingnut, psycho, batsh*t crazy, fruitcake, loon ... the list is endless.

My favourite has always been "2 stops short of Dagenham".

That's a reference to "barking" because Barking is a stop on the London Underground, 2 stops before Dagenham station.

 

[euncu]

Is "to have bats in the belfry" common?

 

[emsr2d2]

Is "to have bats in the belfry" common?

Yes, though less common I think than just saying "batty".