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torschlusspanik
Jan. 3rd, 2011 07:33 amtorschlusspanik (TOR-shlus-pah-nik) - n., fear or anxiety that time is running out, particularly for a literal or figurative border crossing.
From German meaning literally "gate-shut panic." Originally, fear that one won't get into the castle before the gates shut, but can also be whether one will get across the frontier before the army shuts down the crossings, or the realization in one's middle age that one may not ever achieve one's goals, or a childless woman's fear that she is getting too old to bear one, or that one has missed a financial opportunity, and so on. All sorts of borders apply here.
---L.
From German meaning literally "gate-shut panic." Originally, fear that one won't get into the castle before the gates shut, but can also be whether one will get across the frontier before the army shuts down the crossings, or the realization in one's middle age that one may not ever achieve one's goals, or a childless woman's fear that she is getting too old to bear one, or that one has missed a financial opportunity, and so on. All sorts of borders apply here.
---L.
