The other day I was racking my brain trying to think of a few words that people learning Romanian might hear but might be difficult to find in the dictionary as they are a kind of slang or euphemistic speech.

And then this came across my Twitter feed:

http://twitter.com/#!/DeWeekendRo/status/68277315414671360

Yes! What does razna mean, and what does it mean to “take” it?

Plainly put, “o lua razna” (to “take” razna) means “to go crazy”. Perhaps another way to translate it would be “blow your top” or “go nuts” or “go insane” or “flip one’s wig” or “bug out”. I note that Google translate deciphers it as “go haywire”.

The word razna itself refers to doing something in a wild, undirected way, similar to English “chucking” a ball versus accurately throwing it. If you fire off a wild shot with a gun, that’s razna.

Occasionally “o iau razna” (I’m going crazy) is formatted “o apuc razna” with the same meaning.

AND NOW YOU KNOW!