However, Charles Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred Shapiro, The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs (2012) gives pride of place (or at least fame of first occurrence) to "knickers in a knot":ĭon't get your panties (knickers, undies, drawers, etc.) in a twist (bunch, wad, knot, etc.).ġ965 Wilbur Smith, Train from Katanga (New York: Viking) 145: "'Well, bugger off, then,' snarled Bruce.
British informal This expression was originally used specifically of women, the humorous masculine equivalent being get your Y-fronts in a twist. Get your knickers in a twist become upset or angry. Judith Siefring, The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms, second edition (2004) has this: This nuance perhaps influenced by the earlier, synon get (one's) knitting twisted. get (one's) wires crossed, or have a leg over. To be under a misapprehension, or muddled, about something, as ' 'fraid he's got his knickers in a twist on that one': since late 1960s: coll. 'Just pay attention to what I say and then we'll have nobody adrift or roundabout mid-forenoon getting his knickers in a twist' ( Heart).-3. Get (one's) knickers in a twist, to get flustered, to panic: coll: since 1960 at latest. , don't become cantankerous or contentiously touchy: both among men (implying femininity) and from men to women: since ca. In use by 1971.Įric Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, eighth edition (1984), however, assigns the expression a much earlier origin: Nigel Rees, A Word in Your Shell-like (2004) has this brief entry for "knickers in a twist":ĭon't get your knickers in a twist! 'Don't make a drama out of a crisis, don't get worked up or confused or you'll make the problem worse.' As 'knickers' (for female underwear) is solely a Britishism, this phrase has not travelled.
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