Toys in the attic

[lingokid]

So.....who's into this idiom? I love it :up:

 

[Barb_D]

What do you think it means?

 

[lingokid]

My U.S. teacher told us it meant "being crazy, mad or insane"

 

[Grumpy]

What, specifically, do you love about it?

 

[Barb_D]

The only time I've ever heard it was as the title of an album.

 

[SoothingDave]

"Bats in the belfry" is related.

 

[lingokid]

I don' t think toys in the attic and bats in thr belfry are used as much as they used to be, but they are surely not obsolete and are very popular terms among top writers and novelists. Indeed, the song by Aerosmith refers to a weird situation!

 

[lingokid]

"Bats in the belfry" is related.

Yes it is...it has the same meaning

 

[Barb_D]

I literally have never, ever heard anyone use "toys in the attic" except for the album already mentioned.

 

[lingokid]

I literally have never, ever heard anyone use "toys in the attic" except for the album already mentioned.

Say, how old are you? I'm an ESL teacher/trainer, Cambridge examiner (code: AC42EJ), interpreter/translator, linguist, etc. etc. and have been for the last 30 odd years! I've seen and heard "toys in the attic" in novels (King, Bradbury, Brown, etc.), in movies, narrative, essays, reports, TV shows, etc. etc. for eons....and I've been living on this planet ONLY (pun intended) and...NO.....I don't smoke pot or take any sort of drugs (Aspirin excluded, I hate having headaches!!!). Of course, this term has been dumped, substituted, adjusted, re-instated, criticized.......but it has always survived the test of time!! SoothingDave seems to know it too

Robert.

 

[emsr2d2]

I've never heard it in BrE, even as an album title. It's always been "bats in the belfry" here.

 

[probus]

In this case liking Barb_D's posts is insufficient. I must add that I also have never heard "toys in the attic" spoken, or read it except in the album title. I am a native speaker of AmE aged 68. I also think that the COCA has zero occurrences of "toys in the attic", but I may be mistaken because I am not an expert user of the Corpus.

 

[lingokid]

I've never heard it in BrE, even as an album title. It's always been "bats in the belfry" here.

Of course, because it's not typically BrE but AmE! ......I know it's bats in the belfry in the UK and even in my home country Australia. My generation (the 1970s) used it a lot even because American music was the most aired in OZ and always has been. :up::up:

 

[lingokid]

In this case liking Barb_D's posts is insufficient. I must add that I also have never heard "toys in the attic" spoken, or read it except in the album title. I am a native speaker of AmE aged 68. I also think that the COCA has zero occurrences of "toys in the attic", but I may be mistaken because I am not an expert user of the Corpus.

I saw an interview (not viewable on YT unfortunately) with Steve Tyler & Joe Perry of Aerosmith talking about TITA, the song, the title and it's meaning. The Aerosmith are considered a true American band and one of the most English-speaking rock bands around (being from Boston!).

Quote:
It's another way of saying that one is crazy, or nuts. Check out wikipedia, for example:

"Toys in the Attic has been the title of several artistic works. It has a similar meaning to bats in the belfry."

The Aerosmith album (and song) referenced above, "Toys in the Attic," is about a guy losing his mind:

IN THE ATTIC
LIGHTS
VOICES SCREAM
NOTHIN' SEEN
REAL'S A DREAM

LEAVIN' THE THINGS THAT ARE REAL BEHIND
LEAVIN' THE THINGS THAT YOU LOVE REMIND
ALL OF THE THINGS THAT YOU LEARN FOR FEARS
NOTHIN' IS LEFT FOR THE YEARS

VOICES SCREAM
NOTHIN'S SEEN
REAL'S A DREAM

(chorus of "Toys Toys Toys/Are in the Attic")

etc.
-s-

[h=3]Source:[/h] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toys_in_the_Attic

 

[probus]

I have a book entitled "1,000 Spanish Idioms", which details in which parts of the Spanish-speaking world each idiom is used. The book shows that the usage or non-usage of an idiom is remarkably variable geographically. So if you say that in Australia "toys in the attic" means "bats in the belfry", I believe you. But I assure you that very few Americans these days would understand you if you used it.

 

[Grumpy]

I must (belatedly) join Barb_D and the increasing number of respondents who declare themselves as never having heard the expression "toys in the attic", other than in the literal sense.

 

[lingokid]

Funny how forum "elite groups" form over such trivial matter (a simple idiom)....I ask myself what would happen if we were to talk about more important linguistic matters!
Anyhow, I'm not the sort of person to back down from a good sound debate, for sure. I did a little research via many literature and book clubs around the globe and found many other RESPONDENTS who stated they not only know this idiom well, but they use it in everyday speech and in writing to boot! Talking about it appearing in novels, if anyone here read IT by S. King, he/she will notice this idiom used by Devin on his way to Derry (small town in the U.S.). There are far too many RESPONDENTS to quote here and far too many novels, etc. to state here where this idiom is used.
Peace & love

 

[emsr2d2]

That's all well and good but there is no "elite group" here simply backing each other up. If we've never heard it, we've never heard it! There's nothing you or we can do about that. I have read every Stephen King book ever written including "It". If that phrase appears, I am sure I probably worked out what it meant from the context and then never thought about it again. I wouldn't have noted it down in a little book of "idioms used in other countries". Perhaps if I'd gone on to stumble upon it another ten times, it might have sunk in.

No-one is disputing what it means or doesn't mean or how often it appears in Google or anywhere else. All we're saying is that none of us are familiar with it or use it.

 

[Tarheel]

There are far too many RESPONDENTS to quote here and far too many novels, etc. to state here where this idiom is used.

There are too many sources for you to be able to quote one of them?

(Why put everything in bold?)

:?:

 

[probus]

While lingokid considers that Aerosmith created an idiom (and that question remains open), let's have some fun with this thread.

It is absolutely certain that the Rolling Stones contributed a word to the English language. Anybody know what it is? I don't think google will help you.