What Does Do Lally Mean?

Do lally, also called Doolally and doolally tap (British slang), generally means eccentric. The term has been derived from Deolali, which was a camp alleged to send men crazy with boredom. Nowadays it may simply be used to refer to someone a little bit daft.

Deolali was a stopover on the journey home, where it was said that men who had become insane while they were serving in India had "Gone to Deolali". This became shortened to "Gone Deolali."  As for the term doolally tap, it loosely translates "camp fever", which was a reference to the ostensible madness of men who were waiting for to go back home to Britain after ending their tour of duty.

Doolally is also the earlier name of Shanks & Bigfoot, which is a British dance act.