Which paraphrase would you use here

Which paraphrase would you use here?

"You must be mad to do that."

1. I believe you are mad to do that.
2. It is necessary for you to be mad in order to do that.

I would use 1

It depends on the context, of course.

The first option is a better paraphrase of that sentence, I believe.

The second one sounds more as an alternative of "You need to be mad to do that"...

By the way, how do you come up all the time with these interesting questions, MollyB?

Quizzically,

Achab

<By the way, how do you come up all the time with these interesting questions, MollyB? >

Because I'm interested in the finer points of language use. I read a lot of linguistics papers.

number 1 is a better paraphrase, but if you're being picky then it doesn't really match, since using 'mad' in that way is pretty informal, whereas saying 'I believe that you are...' sounds formal.

white