Talk:nervous wreck

Deletion discussion

This entry has survived Wiktionary's verification process.

Please do not re-nominate for verification without comprehensive reasons for doing so.

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nervous wreck

I can see someone saying this is too transparent. Present in dictionary.reference.com[1], oxforddictionaries.com[2], and Collins[3]. I am inclide to have us have this entry. --Dan Polansky (talk) 18:15, 26 September 2014 (UTC)

I'm a bit confused as to why you nommed it for deletion if you are inclined to keep it. Anywho, keep owing to presence in respected dictionaries. Purplebackpack89 20:11, 26 September 2014 (UTC)

It might well be a strategic nomination that established some agreed practices to improve our decision-making or for other purposes.

The expression is a transparent use of senses of nervous and wreck. Even if one were not explicitly aware of those senses, the metaphorical use of wreck is obvious. But I defer to the lexicographers at Oxford, Collins, and AHIdioms. Keep DCDuring TALK 21:48, 26 September 2014 (UTC)

• Keep as a set phrase; vastly more common than theoretical equivalents like "anxious wreck". bd2412 T 22:45, 26 September 2014 (UTC)
• Keep per BD2312's set phrase argument and inclusion in reliable dictionaries. -Cloudcuckoolander (talk) 01:51, 27 September 2014 (UTC)

Keep? basically per BD. I don't think anyone parses this as "a particular wreck that happens to be a nervous one". Equinox ◑ 00:23, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

We have a definition and usex at [[wreck]]:

"Something or someone that has been ruined.

He was an emotional wreck after the death of his wife.

MW has "something disabled or in a state of ruin or dilapidation, <the house was a wreck>; also: a person or animal of broken constitution, health, or spirits <he's a nervous wreck>"

I'm just saying.

As always the entry at [[wreck]] (noun) needs work. We have 3 definitions, MW has 7. DCDuring TALK 01:08, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

Am I alone in thinking that "nervous wreck" means "someone whose nerves have been wrecked" rather than "someone who is a wreck and is also nervous"? Equinox ◑ 01:15, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

Don't know. I read it as "wreck of the nervous variety". DCDuring TALK 02:03, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

You're not alone- that's how I read it. I would say it parallels "emotional wreck", mentioned above, which definitely doesn't mean "a wreck who's emotional". Chuck Entz (talk) 02:24, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

nervous (“relating to or affecting the nerves”). It's not only the morphology; it's a definition. DCDuring TALK 13:41, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

Hmmm. Yeah. Reduced my keep-vote to hesitant italics. DC knows where it's at. Equinox ◑ 02:07, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

If we go with the theory that "nervous wreck" means a wreck "relating to or affecting the nerves", which sense of "nerve" are we saying that this relates to? Bundles of neurons? bd2412 T 14:19, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

We lack the plural-only sense to be found in several dictionaries: “nerves”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.. DCDuring TALK 14:55, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

Still, how do we get specifically from being in a wreck in a sense affecting the nerves to "stressed out"? At least, I gather that there are many reasons why one might be a wreck in a literally "nervous" sense, but why should the phrase only apply to people who are on edge specifically due to the imposition of stress? bd2412 T 17:38, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

I don't specifically know that we have a good definition, but that is an RfV question. Two OneLook sources have a definition like ours, two have one that is closer to the etymology. I don't think typical citations would distinguish between the definitions. But there is an implicit ("folk"/"pop") theory that goes from stress to agitation, nervousness. I followed the small number of lemmings and voted keep, even though it seems at best marginal to me. DCDuring TALK 18:29, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

• Keep. It's in my Oxford hard copy. Donnanz (talk) 13:07, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

Keep, it's not a wreck that's nervous. Relevantly, I think the sense of wreck should be split as wreck in the sense of a person and wreck in the sense of something that's ruined or in disrepair to me aren't the same sense. I might do it myself. Renard Migrant (talk) 14:36, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

• RFD kept per consensus. --Dan Polansky (talk) 08:48, 4 October 2014 (UTC)