“I’ve decided to call him [= little dragon] Norbert,” said Hagrid,
looking at the dragon with misty eyes. “He really knows me now, watch.
Norbert! Norbert! Where’s Mummy?”
“He’s lost his marbles,” Ron muttered in Harry’s ear.
“Hagrid,” said Harry loudly, “give it two weeks and Norbert’s going to be as long as your house. Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at
any moment.” Hagrid bit his lip.
“I –– I know I can’t keep him forever, but I can’t jus’ dump him, I can’t.”
Harry suddenly turned to Ron.
“Charlie,” he said.
“You’re losing it, too,” said Ron. “I’m Ron, remember?”
“No –– Charlie –– your brother, Charlie. In Romania. Studying dragons. We could send Norbert to him. Charlie can take care of him
and then put him back in the wild!”
(Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer’s Stone)Being the referent of ‘it’ is ‘marbles’, I’m wondering why it is not ‘them.’
Answer
“You’ve lost your marbles” and “You’re losing it” are both English idioms meaning “you are losing your sanity” or “you are acting foolishly”. In general “marbles” is a slang term for brains. In context “it” in “losing it” means “mind” or “sanity”.
So “it” here does not refer to “marbles”, but simply to sanity. Both phrases mean essentially the same thing, so it is appropriate to say “too” — he means, “you also are going crazy”, and not specifically re-using the “marbles” idiom.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Listenever , Answer Author : Jay
