Madcap Comedy

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, Grant. This is Ellen in Peninsula, Ohio.

Hi, Ellen. Welcome to the program.

A while back, I was watching an old black-and-white comedy, Cary Grant and Catherine Hepburn. I think it’s called Bringing Up Baby. But anyway, it’s one of those that’s billed as a madcap or screwball comedy. And I just got to thinking, you know, where did madcap come from? I didn’t know if it was the Mad Hatter or just what it was. Or was Cary Grant wearing some kind of weird hat with that fluffy robe that he wears in the movie?

Yeah, madcap.

So how would you compare a madcap comedy to some other kind of comedy? Just frenetic and probably kind of silly, not really meant to be very deep, but just very entertaining in lots of goofy situations. And that’s fast-paced, I should say. And that particular movie was definitely one of those.

Okay, so sort of like our show, kind of a madcap radio program.

Nonstop riot of laughs, yeah.

That would be us.

Yeah, well, madcap is a really interesting word. The mad in there is like crazy, you know, like you’re mad. And the cap is a really interesting instance where the word cap for a long time meant a covering for your head. It still does, right? But hundreds of years ago, the word cap also applied to the head in a kind of playful way. So, for example, to fuddle one’s cap was to get drunk. If you fuddle your cap. And you see the cap in various compounds like that, meaning head. And one of those is madcap, meaning, you know, reckless or wildly impulsive, that kind of thing. And now, as you suggested, I think that the best synonym for madcap is screwball.

Good. Okay. Okay. Very interesting.

And of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the use of madcap in Shakespeare.

That’s right. Why don’t you mention that, Grant?

I think it’s Shakespeare used it. Like we said, madcap, laugh a minute on the show. Henry IV, where is his son, the nimble-footed madcap prince of Wales, and his comrades that daft the world aside and bid it pass? I think he’s getting married soon. Or is that a different one?

Oh, yeah, the Madcap Prince of Wales.

Yeah, that one.

So, Ellen, you have an answer. Did you like the movie?

Oh, yeah, I love all those. I love, like, the old Arsenic and Old Lace and, you know, all those ones. I love them. So I think Turner Classic movie has them on all the time.

Okay, so between A Way with Words and madcap comedies, you have it covered, right?

Yeah, keep me laughing, yeah.

All right, well, thanks for calling, Ellen.

Thank you.

Okay, take care.

Bye-bye.

If you were watching a movie and it made you think of a word and now you’re curious about it, this is the place to find out about it, 877-929-9673, or email the madcap word nerds at words@waywordradio.org.