Doolally (tap)

Origin of: Doolally (tap)

Doolally (tap)

Doolally is British slang from the old colonial days that is still heard from time to time but seldom used in print these days. It means touched, eccentric or crazy and is an anglicisation of Deolali, a town about 120 km northeast of Mumbai in India. In 1861, the British army set up a rest camp and sanatorium there where soldiers suffering from heat exhaustion, fatigue and other ailments were sent to recuperate. In British army jargon, inmates of the sanatorium were routinely described as doolally or suffering from the doolally tap (tap meaning fever in Hindi). Although its first appearance in print is from the early 20th century, the expression was probably in use well before this.