[ti:Losing It]
[ar:Susan Clark]
[al:WORDS AND THEIR STORIES]
[by:WWW.51VOA.COM]
[00:00.00]Go to 51voa.com for more...
[00:09.00]I'm Susan Clark
[00:11.51]with the Special English program
[00:13.46]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
[00:15.71]Tom Smith is the best hitter 
[00:18.50]on his company's baseball team. 
[00:20.80]For weeks during the playing season,
[00:23.56]Tom hit a home run in every game 
[00:26.64]the team played. 
[00:28.34]But then suddenly he stopped 
[00:30.74]hitting home runs. 
[00:32.48]He could not hit the baseball at all.
[00:35.48]One day he struck out three times 
[00:39.46]in one game. He said, 
[00:42.07]"I am afraid I am losing it."
[00:45.15]Mary Jones bought a dress 
[00:48.59]in a woman's clothing store. 
[00:50.49]She felt very happy about buying 
[00:53.18]the dress until she got home. 
[00:55.53]Then she remembered she had left 
[00:58.51]her credit card at the store 
[01:00.71]when she used it to pay for the dress. 
[01:03.66]It was the third time that month 
[01:06.39]that Mary had forgotten 
[01:08.05]something important.
[01:09.85]Mary was angry with herself. 
[01:12.84]She said, "Am I losing it?"
[01:15.63]Emma Cleveland was teaching a class 
[01:19.31]in mathematics at a college. 
[01:21.16]She began to explain to the students 
[01:23.56]how to solve a very difficult problem. 
[01:26.65]She understood it very well. 
[01:29.15]But somehow, at that moment, 
[01:32.24]she could not explain it. 
[01:34.73]Emma said, "I must be losing it."
[01:38.97]Americans seem to have a lot 
[01:42.26]of concern about losing it. 
[01:44.30]At least that is 
[01:46.00]what you would think 
[01:47.26]from hearing them talk. 
[01:48.70]They use the expression 
[01:50.66]when they feel they are 
[01:52.05]losing control. 
[01:53.45]It can mean losing 
[01:55.44]emotional control. 
[01:57.01]Or losing the ability 
[01:59.15]to do something. 
[02:00.59]Or losing mental powers.
[02:03.38]Word experts differ about 
[02:07.02]how the expression started. 
[02:08.81]Some believe it came from 
[02:11.26]television programs popular 
[02:13.35]in the nineteen eighties. 
[02:15.09]Others believe it began 
[02:17.34]with psychologists 
[02:18.74]and psychiatrists
[02:20.69] who deal with how people think, 
[02:23.48]feel and act.
[02:25.63]One psychologist said, 
[02:28.62]"We Americans have many concerns 
[02:31.17]about controlling our lives. 
[02:33.45]Perhaps we worry too much."
[02:36.55]She continued, "In many situations, 
[02:40.58]to say you are losing it 
[02:42.73]eases the tension. 
[02:45.12]It is healthy. 
[02:46.66]And most people who say 
[02:49.10]they are having a problem 
[02:50.85]are not losing it.
[02:53.15]" People may feel more like 
[02:56.50]they are losing it when they are 
[02:58.49]"down in the dumps."
[03:00.24]People who are down in the dumps are sad. 
[03:04.27]They are depressed.
[03:06.17]Word expert Charles Funk says 
[03:09.91]people have been feeling down in the dumps 
[03:14.59]for more than four-hundred years. 
[03:17.23]Sir Thomas More used the expression 
[03:20.62]in fifteen thirty-four. 
[03:22.62]He wrote, "Our poor family ... 
[03:25.56]has fallen in such dumps."
[03:28.45]Word experts do not agree 
[03:32.11]what the word dumps means.
[03:34.30]One expert, John Ayto, says 
[03:38.53]the word dumps probably comes 
[03:40.82]from the Scandinavian countries. 
[03:42.96]The languages of Denmark and Norway 
[03:46.34]both have similar words. 
[03:48.69]The words mean to fall suddenly.
[03:52.08]Americans borrowed this saying.
[03:55.58]And, over the years, 
[03:57.32]it has become a popular way 
[03:59.36]of expressing sadness.
[04:01.86](MUSIC)
[04:12.24]This WORDS AND THEIR STORIES program 
[04:15.47]was written by Jeri Watson. 
[04:17.91]I'm Susan Clark.