funny house
- noun
- /ˈfʌni haʊs/
- Slur
:
manicomio
- It's a cruel thing to call a psychiatric hospital a funny house.
Examples
-
Decades ago, society would often lock people away in the funny house instead of offering real help.
-
He joked about being sent to the funny house, but his friends found it insensitive.
-
He was sent to a funny house after his breakdown.
-
I heard they put him in a funny house for a while.
-
Many people believe it's wrong to refer to a mental institution as a funny house.
-
When she mentioned the funny house, everyone understood she meant a mental hospital.
-
Using the term funny house to describe psychiatric care is seen as disrespectful.
Synonyms
26
8.0
A very noisy, chaotic place often used to describe a mental hospital or busy shop
13
9.9
A rude informal word for a hospital for people with mental illness
4
9.2
A noisy place where many people shout and act in a confused way
1
9.9
A hospital where people with mental illness lived and got treatment in the past
How Offensive
- Slur
18
9.9
- Slur
- Archaic
64
7.5
- Archaic
38
2.8
19
3.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
funny + house
Although 'funny' (odd) and 'house' (building) are transparent individually, the slang pejorative meaning 'mental institution' is idiomatic and not a straightforward composition of the parts; a B1 learner who knows the words would more likely read it as 'strange house' or 'amusing house' rather than 'asylum'. Because the intended meaning relies on slang usage and cultural knowledge rather than predictable semantic composition, it is not derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
Funny house comes from older sayings like funny farm, where funny meant 'odd' or 'strange' and house named the building where people lived. So the picture of a building for 'odd' people explains why the phrase means 'a mental hospital' today and why it is an insulting expression.