FUN COMPARISONS AND DESCRIPTIVES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE...

LOLOL...

THAT is an interesting saying. At least here in the U.S.  My dad used to talk about somebody looking like a "whirling dervish". I've heard it for so many years that it never crossed my mind until you mentioned it.!!  I asked him about it years ago, and his response was something about a person spinning around like a top......getting all 'crazy' or 'dizzy'. I lost interest back then (I was a kid..), but later in college, I was exposed to a lot of 'weird', 'strange', words and speech that was not necessarily in common use. 

Today, in these more "contemporary" times, I know a lot more about a lot of things. I still don't know exactly where or how the term "whirling dervish" came to be a part of U.S. English. I DO know that it refers to a type of "dance" ---- I guess you'd call it a dance..???.  
It was from the Mediterranean area somewhere, I'm thinking maybe Syria or Turkey or maybe India or Pakistan...???

I don't know..... I'm talking through my hat here.  
Maybe I'll do some research. Hmmm.......Maybe.