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From: Enrico C <enrico.c@spamcop.net>
Newsgroups: alt.languages.english
Subject: [Idioms #16] You get my goat
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Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 10:01:09 +0100
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I read this sentence on a NG:
"It's getting my goat that I can't stop these spam emails coming into
my inbox."
Nobody got an animal from his farm, of course!
He just meant that spam is annoying him! Bothering him!
Bugging him!
So, if someone says "You get my goat!" or ""That's really got my
goat", or "You know how to get my goat." they aren't speaking of an
agile ruminant related to sheep but having a beard and straight horns.
No! They are actually saying: you irritate me, you are making me
angry!
Where does this idiom come from? There seem to be more than one
hypothesis.
Anyway, I liked this explanation, even if it isn't the right one, from
the many I read on The Phrase Finder discussion forum
http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/
| Goats can act like angry people--you know, head-butting and all
| that. "Get your goat" would then mean "arouse your goatlike side"
| or "bring out the beast in you.
There is a game, too. "Get my goat!" :)
http://www.johnrausch.com/SlidingBlockPuzzles/goat.htm
--
Enrico C ~ No native speaker
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