conniption

Apr. 30th, 2012 07:19 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (Default)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
Theme week! -- I just happened to have a string of c-words almost in a row coming up, so might as make use of them.


conniption (kuh-NIP-shuhn) - n., a fit of vexation, rage, or panic.


Also "conniption fit," though I've never heard that in my dialect -- it was often plural when I was growing up, as in "she's got the conniptions." By which you might guess it's an Americanism, though it's also used in Canada: another colorful 19th century mock-Latinate coinage first attested in 1833, origin uncertain.

---L.

Date: 2012-04-30 02:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] stillnotbored.livejournal.com
My Missouri born and raised Grandmother always said "Now don't have a conniption fit over nothing."

Regional usage of words is fascinating.

Date: 2012-04-30 03:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] prettygoodword.livejournal.com
Whereas my Ohio-born parents never used "fit" with it, nor did our Appalachian neighbors.

---L.

Date: 2012-04-30 07:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lxndr.livejournal.com
I've never heard it plural. (I was raised in California by a Hungarian immigrant who learned English mostly from southerners.) I have heard 'conniption fit' though.

Date: 2012-05-01 12:35 am (UTC)

Date: 2012-05-01 02:21 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ersatz-read.livejournal.com
Interesting...my Iowa family also said "conniption fit".

Date: 2012-05-01 02:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] prettygoodword.livejournal.com
Now I'm wondering where between Iowa and Ohio the border of usage is.

---L.

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