Marilyn's Photos - June 12 2026 - Losing One's Marbles
Louise Arbour became Canada's Governor-General this week. No one has commented on her age as inappropriate for the role while noting that she is the oldest person appointment to the position. I assume that it might be due to her speech being articulate and inspiring, calling on Canadians to learn from diversity, to be cautious about AI, and to be vigilant to remaining a mature democracy.
I particularly notice her age of 79 and how alert and energetic she is compared to us average mid-olders. There seem to be lots of conversations about losing cognition at our age. That leads into seeing the recent headline in which one article says "Trump has gone full marble." That really got my attention. What a catchy phrase!
And what is this expression "losing one's marbles?" The expression is believed to have originated from the game of marbles, where losing one's marbles would symbolize a loss of mental clarity or sanity.
From the mid 19th century marbles was used to refer to personal effects and goods. So winning and losing one's marbles in that respect was associated with worldly goods.
During the late 19th century, losing one's marbles began to be used to mean getting frustrated or angry. This translated to losing one's mind evolved and it by the beginning of the 20th century, loss of sanity won out.
Here's one theory that has no proof: It has been suggested that the ‘losing one’s mind’ meaning derives from the Elgin Marbles. These are the collection of sculptures, some from the Parthenon Frieze, which were taken from Athens by Lord Elgin in 1806. The supposition is that the expression derives from the loss of the artworks by the Greeks, or their subsequent loss at sea when the ship that was transporting them sank.
There are 3 explanations of the phrase "to go full marble" - the first is to cover an entire space in marble stone - that's a home decor expression. The second is high-stakes - to go for all the marbles. The third is to go full [X] - a popular linguistic template used to describe plunging 100% into a specific state of mind.
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