Another maddener is 'sea-change' to mean any great change. It comes from Ariel's song in The Tempest in which he tells Ferdinand that his drowned father ['Full fathom five'] is being changed bit by bit to something connected with the sea: his bones to coral, his eyes to pearls - presumably his hair to seaweed &c. Its use to mean any great change robs that beautiful original concept of its poetic force imo.