Q: My mother says I dress and act like a fool? I have heard this word used before, but think that it means something entirely different meaning. What is the origin of the word and its true meaning?
A: Well, reader, you sure posted a stumper. After searching where the phrase “act a fool” comes from for days and days, I finally had to enlist the help of other area librarians to see what we could find. It seems 15 or 20 heads truly are better than 1. Here’s what we found out:
The phrase “play the fool”, has been around for a very long time. In the King James version of the Bible (Samuel 26:21) Saul says, “I have sinned…Behold, I have played the fool and have committed serious error.”
The Oxford English Dictionary states that the phrase’s earliest recording was in 1532 by Frenchman Giles Du Wes. By 1659, an English member of Parliament, was recording in his diary, “I staid up a little while, playing the fool with the lass of the house.”
While the original meaning of “fool” was a senseless or stupid person, by the time “play the fool” came into use, to be called a fool meant that you were more of a jester or a clown. So to play the fool means “to act the part of a fool or a jester”. This might be familiar to you if you’ve ever read Shakespeare, where many “fools” appeared as a way to bring humor to the play.
But that’s not where this little phrase stopped. Even today in modern culture, we hear people say someone is “acting a fool”. Urbandictionary.com defines “act a fool” as “to stop acting rationally and start acting foolishly; to go nuts”.
It’s used in urban culture to describe going “crazy”, or having an insane amount of fun. And “act a fool” is present in the lyrics of many hip hop and rap songs. The popular musician, Prince, used it in his song “The Bird” in 1983:
“Brothers, don’t be cool,
Women like it sometimes when U act a fool”
“Act A Fool” is even the title of hip hop songs by the artists, Ludacris and Lil Jon. Both songs use the phrase “act a fool” to describe getting crazy and partying (ex: “Act a fool til they cut the lights and we still ain’t goin’ home”).
The mystery still lies in how “play the fool” in 1592 became the “act a fool” in 2010. But we hope this helps explain the meaning of the phrase. Chances are, when your mother says you’re acting a fool, she doesn’t mean you’re a simpleton-she thinks you’re funny!
