A: I saw John at the party. Would you come over and say “Hi?” B: I’d rather not. That guy just gets my goat every time he opens his mouth. Note: This figurative saying means “to irritate someone, to annoy and arouse someone to anger.” “Goat” as a slang term for “anger” was recorded in the United States since the early 1900s. A commonly repeated story which purports to explain the phrase’s origin is that goats were placed with racehorses to keep them calm. When an opponent stole the goat companion from a horse, the horse became unsettled and ran badly. |