Got your goat?

Reader question:

Please explain this sentence: “A newspaper headline last weekend really got my goat...”

My comments:

In other words, you didn’t like the article you read.

That headline piqued you off – immediately after reading it, you were filled with anger. You’re upset, annoyed, restless.

Antsy.

“Got my goat” is the idiom in question here and it is another one of those beautiful little American creations that are fun to learn.

Goat is by and large a peaceful animal. I’ve seen goats get angry and rowdy on television but by and large goats are considered to be a docile and peaceful animal. It is perhaps from this that the Americans developed the idea of “got my goat”.

Or your goat, for that matter. Or his/her goat. Or their collective goat, if you will. And that means you, he, her or they have lost whatever it is that gives them peace.

Hence, one of the more plausible theories, I think, as to the origin of “get my goat” point to horse racing (Phrase.org.uk):

A commonly repeated story which purports to explain the phrase’s origin is that goats were placed with racehorses to keep them calm. When ne’er-do-wells who wanted the horse to race badly removed it, i.e. they ‘got someone’s goat’, the horse became unsettled and ran badly. That’s just the sort of tale that gets the folk etymology juices running. Let’s just say that there’s no evidence to support that story.

Well, I think it’s quite plausible insofar as being logical is concerned. What’s your take?

Anyways, the important thing is to take care of your goat, if you have any. The goat stands for the thing that gives you peace and comfort, the thing that you hold close to heart. Losing it, therefore, makes you upset, annoyed and angry and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Now what’s this I hear? You don’t have a goat?

Well, that’s all the better for you. If you don’t have a goat, then it follows that nobody can have your goat, at least insofar as being logical is concerned.

Alright, here are media examples of getting someone’s goat:

1. WALES’ famous army goat has been thrown out of the Assembly for being a health hazard.

Staff banned Shenkin, the Royal Regiment of Wales’ mascot, when caterers refused to serve a buffet in his presence.

The move angered Tory AM David Davies who said the Assembly should be used to dealing with political animals.

“It’s really got my goat,” he fumed. “He’s being treated as a second-class celebrity in his own country.”

- Assembly ban’s got my goat, The Mirror, February 14, 2003.

2. If a little is good, then it follows that more must be better. Well, OK, maybe not all the time.

For example, this extreme couponing craze has really got my goat. (And until recently I didn't even know I had a goat.)

Don’t get me wrong. I use coupons whenever the opportunity presents itself. After all, it often makes good financial sense to clip coupons to save money on groceries. But extreme couponing takes this otherwise good personal-finance practice and throws it completely over the top.

Never mind that, oftentimes, those seemingly ubiquitous examples of people getting a thousand bucks worth of groceries for pennies on the dollar are arguably the result of coupon fraud. The reality is that folks who are spending more than an hour or so a week clipping coupons are at risk of wasting valuable time that, all things considered, could be used much more cost-effectively doing something else.

People who take coupon clipping to the extreme, whether they want to admit it or not, also often end up buying products they may not want or need. OK, so you bought 20 bags of frozen lima beans for $2.36, but how many, if any, of those yucky beans will get eaten before they finally become freezer-burned? And how much additional money is required to store them?

Coupon cutting is probably the best -- but not the only -- example of a typically good personal-finance practice that often gets abused by taking it to the extreme.

- When good money habits go too far, Money.MSN.com, June 3, 2011.

3. Crystal Palace have taken legal action against former boss Iain Dowie, who has been named as Charlton’s new manager.

Palace chairman Simon Jordan claimed Dowie made “fraudulent statements about his reasons for leaving the club” when he parted company with the Eagles.

Dowie was Palace manager between 2003 and 22 May 2006 and Jordan said: “He told me he wanted to go back to the north to be with his family.

“My club waived compensation because he said he wanted to return to the north.”

Dowie had a compensation clause in his contract which meant if he left for another club they would have to pay Palace £1m.

However, Jordan agreed to waive that clause and it is this that prompted the chairman to take action.

It is unlikely he would be able to stop Dowie becoming manager of Charlton - but this move may be designed to recover the compensation he would have received through that clause.

Both Dowie and Charlton insist that they never held a conversation until after the manager had parted company with Palace.

“I released him from a £1m compensation clause because he said he wasn’t going to do what he’s done,” said Jordan...

“I thought it was a joke. I thought it was the pantomime season,” said Charlton chairman Richard Murray.

“Simon has always been rather envious or jealous of Charlton because we have had the success he has been striving for, with a wonderful stadium which we own.

“But I do not know what has got his goat. Maybe he should ring me.”

- Palace take action against Dowie, BBC.co.uk, May 30, 2006.

About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.