Don’t get your knickers in a twist!

Non attorcigliarti le mutande!

Un detto inglese, scherzoso e di uso comune, che invita a non preoccuparsi, confondersi, per questioni di poco conto. L’imperativo negativo è forse la forma più usata, ma chiaramente il verbo base get si può coniugare in qualsiasi tempo verbale. Vediamo alcuni esempi tipici dell’uso più comune di questa espressione:

  • Stop getting your knickers in a twist and phone the manager!
  • Smetti di confonderti e chiama il direttore!
  • Jane always gets her knickers in a twist when it’s time to do her tax returns.
  • Jane si preoccupa sempre quando arriva il momento di fare la dichiarazione dei redditi.
  • Bob got his knickers in a twist about who to invite.
  • Bob si è confuso riguardo chi invitare.
  • If Clare gets her knickers in a twist, just tell her to call me.
  • Se Clare va nel pallone, dille di chiamarmi e basta.
  • I’m afraid Tom has got his knickers in a twist again.
  • Temo che Bob si è confuso di nuovo.
  • She will probably get her knickers in a twist if you don’t tell her.
  • Probabilmente si preoccuperà se non glielo dici.

Your comments are always very welcome.


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Author: Tony

Born and raised in Malaysia between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Educated at Wycliffe College in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, England. Living in the foothills of Mount Etna since 1982 and teaching English at Catania University since 1987.

6 thoughts on “Don’t get your knickers in a twist!”

  1. Hi Tony,
    While I was surfing on internet I found that the sentence “Don’t get your knickers in a twist” is also traslate as “Non ti arrabbiare”.
    What do you think about it?
    Thank you
    Claudio

    Like

    1. Yes, I’ve seen that as well, Claudio. I think it’s possible, but generally not in a particularly ‘heavy’ sense. I think generally it’s more “agitarsi” than “arrabbiarsi”.

      Like

    1. Well, idioms are strange creatures, probably in all languages (at least the two that I know well: English and Italian). I think a lot of it is to do with cultural background and the rest is often just humour, light ot dark as it may be. Whatever, they do give flavour to a language.

      Like

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