have kittens
idiom, UK informal (US have a cow)

- to be very worried, upset, or angry about something

The Cambridge Dictionary

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PHRASE ORIGIN

Some researchers trace the idea of “having kittens” back to the Middle Ages when painful pregnancies were thought to be the result of a witch’s curse. Women were worried that, instead of giving birth to a child, they would bring forth kittens.

That being said, the phrase “to have kittens” meaning “to lose one’s composure” has not been found in any newspapers, magazines or books before the mid-19th century. It was officially recognized by dictionaries in 1928.

The word “kitten” is from the late 14th century, from kitoun “the young of a domesticated cat”, probably from an Anglo-French variant of Old French chaton, chitoun “little cat”, a diminutive of chat “cat” from Late Latin cattus.

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TWAIN’S KITTENS

Mark Twain had an uncommon fondness for cats. Summering in New Hampshire later in his life, Twain visited a nearby farm with a strange request: He wanted to rent kittens to keep him company until he returned home. The request was granted and Twain’s farm was soon crawling with cats, which he gave names like Sour Mash, Stray Kit, Blatherskite, Satan, and Sin.

Twain’s daughter Susy once remarked, “The difference between Papa and Mama is that Papa loves cats and Mama loves morals.”

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SYNONYMS

- to be agitated

become hysterical, blow one’s stack (top), come apart, flare up, flip (out), flip your lid, fly off the handle, freak (out), get flustered (het up), get in a flap (a stew, a state, a tizz, a tizzy), get overwrought (steamed up), get the (screaming) heebie-jeebies, get the jitters (the willies, wind up, uptight, worked up), go bananas (berserk, crackers, crazy, insane, into a flat spin, mad, off one’s rocker, off the deep end, off your head, out of your mind, to pieces), have a cow (a fit, have an attack of the wobblies), HAVE KITTENS, lose it, lose your bottle (your cool, your mind, your temper), panic, push panic button, rave, run around like a headless chicken, snap, throw a wobbly, unhinge, wig out

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“HAVING KITTENS reminded me of a stress-reducing technique endorsed by athletes, the military, police officers, and health workers. It’s called ‘box breathing’, ‘square breathing’ or ‘four-square breathing’. Here is a visualisation given by the University of Alabama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF_1ZiFta-E “

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