I’ve heard (and used) the phrases “hissy fit” and “coniption fit”. Any basis in reality, or just made up?
You must not have cats, a hissy fit
desribes a two cats feeling each other out before a fight. They hiss at each other to show they are displeased about something (who
knows what). Sometimes it goes no further than hissing, (sorry, my bad). Sometimes it leads up to an all out “cat fight” (fur flying and all that).
A coniption? Not really sure, but it sounds like a made of phrase to me, like dohicky or whatcamacallit.
My Webster’s defines conniption as “a fit of anger, hysteria, etc.; tantrum: also conniption fit.”
I’ve got cats - two females. They don’t fight a lot. I didn’t know that was the origin of the phrase, though.
conniption n. [arbitrary pseudo-Latin coinage] a fit of anger, hysteria, etc.; tantrum.
Why pseudo-Latin? Why not quasi-Latin?
From Meriam Webster online:
I have 3 cats, and the 2 females are almost always in the state of a hissy fit, if they are anywhere near each other.