I don't know whether the phrase "go spare" is used in the US, but it is very common in the UK.
e.g. You're an hour late. Mum's going spare upstairs!
I would like to know where the phrase comes from, and how it came to get its meaning. Also, what sense of the word "spare" is being used - none really seem to fit?
According to the Dictionary of Contemporary Slang (which is no longer online):
spare 2 adj British
out of control, furious. The word, usually in the form ‘go spare’, has been in use since before World War II. It derives from the notion of excess
The Phrase Finder defines "send (someone) spare" as:
SEND (SOMEONE) SPARE - (U.S. equivalent: drive someone nuts) See also 'go spare.'" From "British English from A to Zed" by Norman Schur (FirstHarperPerennial edition, 1991).
Many more examples in a Google book search
According to Word Detective, go spare originally meant be made redundant, and the anger was a secondary effect:-
The original sense of “go spare,” when it first appeared in British slang in the 1940s, was “to be or become unemployed,” making it a close cousin of the more formal British euphemism for being laid off, “to be made redundant.” By the late 1950s, the normal emotional reaction to losing one’s job had colored the term “go spare,” and it had had acquired the added meaning of “to become distraught or very angry” (“When he saw what I had done he went spare,” 1958).
I can't say that I find this explanation particularly convincing, but I offer it for what it's worth.
The entry for the Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (this edition 1984) seems to capture one possible path for the evolution of this phrase quite nicely. The first three meanings were all British Army slang, and the progression from idle to AWOL to angry makes perfect sense.
Idle, not engaged on any particular job (Army, W.W. I),
Absent, especially without leave (Army, 1939+),
Angry, as "when the sarnt sees this, he'll go fucking spare" (Army, since ca. 1940).
A synonym for "go spare" is to "go thin." If someone's patience is "getting thin," they're about to get angry.
I've sometimes wondered if it might not relate to Austin Osman Spare, the WW1 War artist. He showed enormous talent and promise before the War, but many thought he 'went a bit odd' afterwards, and he dropped out of sight and was almost unknown by his death in 1955. He regained some popularity in the 70's, but was definitely weird or inspired, depending on your viewpoint. Look up his self-portraits, or if you can find it, his portrait of Hitler. Then there are his writings... Anyway, just a random thought...
Cockney rhyming slang: spare tyre = ire.
