Boards
Fact-o-Rama MO180509
The subtle difference between 'Running Amok' and 'Going Berzerk'.
Running Amok: A SE Asian term stemming from the ancient Malay 'mengamuk' meaning loosely "to go fucking batshit". Apparently the term referred to a phenomenon peculiar to that part of the world whereby an individual would suddenly without warning or reason
1) Grab the nearest weapon,
2) Kill the nearest person,
3) Repeat until incapacitated (read: beaten to death by irate mob).
Though at first thought to be a mere explosion of sudden insanity, subsequent thinking suggested that running amok was in fact a form of suicide (prompted by the usual shit - debt, domestics, etc) which had come about due to the Islamic and various other cultural injunctions against doing the work yourself. Furthermore, incidents of running amok were found to decrease in areas controlled by the British and other colonials - who were much more in favour of capturing the rampager alive and bringing him to trial. Nowadays the term is appropriately applied to angered elephants and sugar-fuelled toddlers.
Berserk: Scandinavian - "ber-": 'bjorn' or 'bear' and "-serkir": cloth. Literally "bearsuit" from the bears heads/vests these Norse troops wore into battle; going Berserk differs from running Amok in that while Amok is indiscriminately directed violence, Berserkers directed their bloody fervour (more or less) solely at the enemy. The usual explanation for Berserker behaviour holds that they were naturally badass - they literally dressed in bears and carrying massive axes to throw at peoples' heads - there have been suggestions that Norse warriors put themselves in such a state by ingesting various drugs, or that they were men selected for combat based on their being manic-depressive.
----
Supplementary fact: Toilets in which there are mirrors strategically placed so as to enable occupants to watch themselves taking a shit are not right.