Doolally Tap and Billy Moon

[Buxtonstill]

Apparently the origins of the saying 'Doolally tap' (meaning to go crazy) were from the name of a British Army camp near Bombay. My Gran used the expression frequently.

Another turn of phrase she used was to refer to the Moon as 'Billy Moon'. I thought she made that one up, but we were talking at work, and someone else was familiar with the expression. Does anyone know where it originated and why?

She also used to call any form of Liquorice 'Spanish'.

Anyone know where that may have come from? Any other sayings that you may wonder about?

One of our phrases is

You lie like a hairy egg

I assume that means 'well' or that you are good at lying...no idea where it comes from though

Spanish is the root of liquorice that you could suck as it was sweet and didn't need anything doing to it.
Billy Moon? There was a footballer called Billy Moon in the 30s.

How about Tilly Mint. My aunt always called it me. Apparently a Tilly used to sell mints at Liverpool station ?

Buxton my late FIL (died in the early 80s) always said Doolally - said not to resuscitate him as he didn't want to be Doolally sat in a chair all day. Liquorice was called Spanish when I was a child, but it was the hard kind not stuff like Pontefract cakes.

Doolally is a corruption of Deolali.
from Wiki -
Deolali transit camp was a transit camp for British troops in Deolali, India, notorious for its unpleasant environment, boredom and the psychological problems of soldiers that passed through it. Its name is the origin of the phrase "gone doolally" or "doolally tap", a phrase meaning to 'lose one's mind'. 'Tap' may refer to the Urdu word tap, meaning a malarial fever. The fictional British TV sitcom "It Ain't Half Hot Mum", about a dysfunctional army entertainment troupe, was supposedly based at this Deolali camp.
So now you know!

My ex is Welsh & she says doolally tap". I think the "tap" may be a Welsh word or phrase used as an intensifier or descriptive to accentuate the "doolally".

My Nan called everything 'Billy', billy wind, billy puffer train etc Only when talking to dc though. Where are you from op?