So what is "sar suku" ("tiga suku")? Literally, it means three-quarters. Figuratively, it means someone (the subject) is crazy or whacky, or even mentally not quite there. But I don't hear it -- like I don't hear half past six -- being bandied around these days unless we are talking about the "three-quarter tank" rule. Now that's a crazy rule, with Singapore Customs officers having to be deployed to peer into Causeway-bound vehicles just to see if the fuel gauge needle is at the three-quarter mark or higher.
How do we say someone is crazy in Hokkien? Siow lang/Gong gong liaw. In Malay? Dia gila.
I learnt while living in Australia that you would say "Going (or gone) troppo". The Australian National University (my alma mater) even came up with this helpful etymology:
troppo: go troppo
Behave strangely, lose your mind. The phrase was first used by Australian troops in the Pacific during the Second World War, and arose from the idea that long exposure to tropical conditions affected your sanity. It is now used in various contexts —‘Why’s Ray selling his house and buying shares in a wind farm?’ ‘Dunno. Probably gone troppo.’ The abbreviation of ‘tropical’ and the addition of -o demonstrate a common Australian way of altering words.
Some other common expressions:
you're nuts
you're loco
you're cuckoo
you've lost your marbles
you've lost a screw (or a few screws)
you're off your rocker
you're off your trolley
Finally, there's that famous finger gesture:
placing one finger on the temple of the head and rotating it (the finger, not the head, unless you really are gila!) several times.
I always thought that that was a universal gesture but according to the YouTube video below, it originated in Russia. Hmmm...
16 Rude & Interesting Gestures Around the World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1b6MGoxekY
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