Origin Of The Words Bedlam And Tomfoolery.

People often use terms today which may sound harmless, without knowing their true origins. Take the words Bedlam and Tomfoolery. Bedlam indicates a state of great confusion. And people who act silly, are often said to be engaging in tomfoolery. Bedlam of course is short for St. Mary of Bethlehem, a notorious old insane asylum in London dating back to the 14th century, which later became a hospital for the mentally ill still is in operation today.

Tomfoolery is more obscure. Tomfoolery is derived from the archaic term Tom-Fool. Tom o'Bedlam and Poor Tom being names formerly applied to the demented and developmentally disabled, because they often ended up in Bedlam. (Also interestingly insubordinate wives were placed in Bedlam. Couldn't they just get a divorce?) Bedlam hospital was the first attempt at humane care for patients, but people there lived under appalling conditions by today's standards. People paid a penny to observe the patients like specimens in a zoo. But you have consider how life would've been for these people otherwise. These people were often beggars, and beggars had a very low status back then (Queen Elizabeth I once said she'd rather be a beggar woman than a queen married). Because people never helped beggars back then (how did they eat?).

Care for the mentally ill and disabled has improved greatly since the old days of Bedlam. But we must always remember the past, if only to avoid repeating it. And it is perhaps ironic that we do when we use those words.