Wikipedia talk:At wit's end

What this essay is and why I started it

I've seen people invoke "At wit's end" on Wikipedia, particularly recently, and mostly, up until now, I've just been pretending that I knew what it meant and why they were talking about it - since it's mostly self-explanatory it isn't a problem, but given its apparent importance it's good to have some documentation of what it is, where it came from, and why its used.

This is my best stab at explaining what it is - if people with more information about where it came from (I can't see who came up with it and what their thinking was, since it wasn't workshopped in the 2007 Eastern Europe workshop as far as I can see) that would be very helpful - to that end I hope the 7 arbs listed as !voting on it won't mind if I ping them for feedback here: @Kirill Lokshin, Mackensen, Jdforrester, Fred Bauder, Morven, FloNight, and Jpgordon:. FOARP (talk) 09:28, 14 November 2024 (UTC)

It simply means puzzled, perplexed. Goes back to at least Piers Plowman. Or am I missing the point of your question? --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆𝄐𝄇} 17:17, 14 November 2024 (UTC)

Like, who suggested the motion and what was their reasoning for suggesting it (beyond just "at wit's end" the phrase). Sorry if I sound like I'm over thinking this. FOARP (talk) 18:01, 14 November 2024 (UTC)

You might be. Kirill is probably the one who drafted it, for what it's worth. I don't recollect any conversations about the phrasing. --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆𝄐𝄇} 23:43, 14 November 2024 (UTC)