The English language's bewildering range is enough to get one's dander up, writes Wyn Drabble. Photo / NZME
Wyn Drabble is a teacher of English, writer, public speaker and musician. He is based in Hawke’s Bay.
Do you know one of the things that really gets my dander up? It’s not knowing what dander is and whether indeed I have one/any.
Okay, after writing that sentence, I looked it up, but now I have another question which gets my dander up; why does it go “up”? To where?
Maybe I should choose a synonymous phrase such as “really gets my goat”. Firstly, though, I don’t have a goat and, secondly, why would something “get” my ruminant quadruped of the genus Capra?
“Get on one’s wick” probably has genital origins so we might skirt around that option because if there’s one thing which gets my dander up, it’s genital origins.
What about “gets one’s hackles up”? “Hackles” dates back to the 1400s and refers to the feathers or fur on the neck of cockerels, pigeons, dogs and the like. Hardly transferable to humans, at least not moi.
Ditto “gets one’s back up”, which one source says originated in the 19th century when people used horses for transportation. An angry or agitated horse would arch its back and raise its hair as a sign of aggression.
I suppose if something “gives one the hump” it probably has a similar derivation. Angry camels spring to mind.
The same could be said of “ruffles one’s feathers”, which definitely has an avian vibe. So we’ll have to bin that one too.
Nor do I feel humans can be “rubbed up the wrong way”, which is surely derived from a feline foible.
What about “it really makes one’s blood boil”? One explanation for this idiom is that it originated in ancient times when people believed emotions were connected to the four humours – blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile – which had to be kept in balance for good health. Belief in this may have dwindled, but at least we are getting closer to a human element.
What about “makes one see red”? The most common explanation for this is the bull-fighting connection. The flaw in this theory is that bulls can’t actually see colour; they are attracted to the waving rather than the colour. It’s a human waving the red cape so there is a tenuous human link.
“Drive one up the wall” has at least two claimed origins. The notion of a metaphorical wall preventing escape from a situation has been around since at least the 16th century. Another theory links it to the druggy ‘60s and is based on addicts trying to climb the wall of their desperate dependency cell.
“Drive one to distraction” has an appealing alliterative ring to it but its origins are a tad murky. The same can be said for the popular phrase “do one’s head in“.
“Get under one’s skin” is possibly derived from mites and the like which can burrow under the skin and cause irritation. The trouble with this one is that it can also be used to mean the exact opposite.
Cole Porter’s 1936 song I’ve Got You Under My Skin, covered by, among others, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, puts a very positive and romantic spin on the expression.
Well, I set out to tell you about some of my pet peeves but went off on a language tangent, so now I have no space left to do it. And I’m sure there will be other options lurking in the lexicon.
But it certainly highlights one positive, and that’s the richness of the English language. Is there another language which could offer such a range of idiomatic and metaphorical variants?
But, as you can see from what’s just happened to me, having such a bewildering range is also enough to get my dander up.