Marbles is/was a sport for kids, where competitors have small round glass beads which target others in a shoot, sometimes within a circle, sometimes into a pot. (The modern sport of curling is not unlike this.) But the marbles, being small, were easily lost, and thus as when lost, their owner might look frantically for them. Thus was born the expression “lost his marbles.” I played marbles way back then. It was a high pressure game, to make an accurate shot when big stakes (your own property) were involved. Big-time matches for a ten-year old, settled on an open field with strategies, skills, spectators, and cheering. In the 20 th century it became a general expression within the language, and was used in two ways, to be angry or to be crazy. The meaning has expanded, though it isn’t clear kids play marbles any more. So, what are those marbles that some people lose? It usually refers to a sudden change in one or more of the following? Social communication
Random thoughts and used ideas