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第 38 课:Losing It: It's Hard When You Lose Control-3

She continued, "In many situations, to say you are losing it eases the tension. It is healthy.

And most people who say they are having a problem are not losing it ."

People may feel more like they are losing it when they are "down in the dumps."

People who are down in the dumps are sad. They are depressed.

Word expert Charles Funk says people have been feeling down in the dumps for more than four-hundred years.

Sir Thomas More used the expression in fifteen thirty-four. He wrote, "Our poor family ... has fallen in such dumps."

Word experts do not agree what the word dumps means. One expert, John Ayto, says the word dumps probably comes from the Scandanavian countries.

The languages of Denmark and Norway both have similar words. The words mean to fall suddenly.

Americans borrowed this saying. And, over the years, it has become a popular way of expressing sadness.