I’ve heard people say “That gave me the willies.” I’ve also heard people say, “That gives me the shivers.” Or “That gives me the horrors.”
Basically all meaning: a strange feeling of uneasiness or unpleasantness
What other terms have you heard to describe this?
Creeps, heebie-jeebies
Someone just walked over my grave.
My tail was getting fluffy.
.
The whim-whams.
Increase in the Pucker Factor to (whatever number between one and ten).
Seconding posts 2 and 3.
Have heard of post 5, but didn’t think it meant the same thing.
The frights. Or, if you’re Madeleine Kahn, “the frightth”.
The creepy-crawlies.
For #3 I’ve heard the slightly more countrified version:
“a goose walked over my grave.”
This is what I’ve always heard for random shivering with no apparent reason.
The “Fantods”
It must have been in Tom Sawyer or something. I have never heard anyone actually use this expression.
I have, but assumed it would be spelled with a “ph”, like phantom.
“A faery whispered in my ear”
“I’ve a ghost at my back”
“A wind down my back”
“Sent the crawling cold down me” (and all know that only a warm bourbon can fix that!)
“The Hag’s own hand at my spine”
I could go on for hours, probably. . .
The jibblies.
Just reading this thread gave me a case of the creeping willies last night. I had an awful time getting to sleep. . . LOL!
I always heard it called a goose shiver, since it (temporarily, at least) produces goose bumps.
I use this expression. I have no idea where it came from. I’ve also heard ‘the Jim-Jams’, which, on further reflection sounds like a Ska band.
Screaming meemies. I’ve heard ‘screaming fantods’-- think in David Foster Wallace perhaps?
Howling fantods is what DFW used.
Of course, there’s always the flaming fantods, the creeping phantods, the fan-tods, and also The Fantods (band.)
I’d never heard of David Foster Wallace until this week - in another thread.
<Peggy Hill>
“the heebiest of jeebies”
</Peggy Hill>