different between screwball vs whackjob

English

Etymology

screw +? ball

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sk?u?b??l/

Noun

screwball (plural screwballs)

1. (baseball) A pitch thrown with added pressure by the index finger and a twisting wrist motion resulting in a motion to the right when thrown by a right-handed pitcher.

   The screwball is not thrown much because it tends to damage pitcher's arms.

2. (US) One who behaves in a crazy manner.

   I will not listen to this screwball any longer.

Translations

Adjective

screwball (comparative more screwball, superlative most screwball)

1. (originally US) Crazy, offbeat, bizarre, zany, or weird.
   • 2013, Tom Shone, Oscar nominations pull a surprise by showing some taste – but will it last? (in The Guardian, 11 January 2013)[1]

     Also a big hand for Silver Linings Playbook, an exuberant modern screwball comedy we had, in an unseemly fit of cynicism, deemed "too entertaining" for Academy voters.

Derived terms

• screwball comedy

English

Alternative forms

• wackjob
• whack job

Etymology

• whack(y) + job(bie)

Noun

whackjob (plural whackjobs)

1. (colloquial, derogatory) A crazy, possibly dangerous, person.
   • 1992: Elmore Leonard, Rum Punch

     "He called the guy who owns the gun shop a 'whackjob' and said he's going to take him down if it's the last thing he does."

   • 2003: Michael Graham, Redneck Nation: How the South Really Won the War

     One of America's most prominent Confederistas is Michael Hill, head whackjob at the looney League of the South—an obscure organization that has already declared southern cultural independence.

   • 2004: Mark. St. Amant, Committed: Confessions of a Fantasy Football Junkie

     Ronald Reagan took his oath as the fortieth president in American history and, three months later, took a bullet from some wackjob trying to impress the future star of The Silence of the Lambs.

Synonyms

• (crazy, possibly dangerous person): basket case, freak, loony, nutjob, nutter, screwball, wacko, wingnut