Thursday, April 7, 2016

get someone's goat

get someone's goat

phase. to irritate, annoy or anger someone

"Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders clearly got the goat of GE's CEO, Jeff Immelt, who has fired back at him."

"It really gets my goat when people push past without saying 'Excuse me'."

"Tom got his girlfriend's goat and she made quite a fuss about it."

Origin:  The phrase comes from a tradition in horse racing. Goats were placed with racehorses to keep them calm. Unscrupulous opponents would then steal the goat in an effort to upset the horse and cause it to lose the race.

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