Fat Tuesday/Shrove Tuesday

I have never understood calling Shrove Tuesday Fat Tuesday. I mean I understand the etymology thanks to Wikipedia.  (What did we do before Wikipedia?)  And I've never understood Mardi Gras or Carnival.  The crazy partying before Lent begins.  I understand the eating of rich, fatty foods before the tradition of fasting during Lent begins.  The church I went to until I moved out of my home town had, and still has, a Pancake Supper on Shrove Tuesday.  I always enjoyed going to that.  Now granted I can eat pancakes anytime, but it was always special on Shrove Tuesday.  But when did the whole Fat Tuesday/Carnival/Mardi Gras come to mean partying in the streets, drinking until you're sick, acting like a fool while you're drinking, wearing very little clothing depending on the locale and wearing plastic beads.  Even in my younger partying days I had no interest in attending celebrations like that.  Halloween was enough, but that's another story for another time.  And that's all I have to say on the subject of the Tuesday before Lent begins.