he's got ants in his pants
he's unable to sit still
TRANSLATION
ants in your pants = Hummeln im Hintern haben, nicht still sitzen können --- GOOGLE INDEX ants in his pants: approximately 350,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
He always seemed like he had ANTS IN HIS PANTS.
(The Independent)
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Does your lively child simply have ANTS IN HIS PANTS or a problem that will handicap him for the rest of his life?
(www.health24.com)
(The Independent)
---
Does your lively child simply have ANTS IN HIS PANTS or a problem that will handicap him for the rest of his life?
(www.health24.com)
Did you
know?
have ants in one's pants
idiom
- to not be able to keep still because you are very excited or worried about something
(Cambridge Dictionary)
---
Ants are known as one of nature's most industrious species of animals. Hard-working and tireless, it seems they never stop moving. So it doesn't take too much imagination to understand what it means to have ants in your pants (US English for trousers). After all, if you literally had them crawling around in your pants, it would be difficult to sit still for very long.
This concept also takes the form of the adjective "antsy" (He's a bit antsy about his upcoming knee operation).
Sometimes when we are excited or worried, instead of having ants in our pants we might have "butterflies in our stomach." This describes that nervous feeling that can occur in the stomach when you have to give an important presentation or speech or when you have fallen in love for instance.
The term "ant" is from the Middle English "ampte" and Old English "æmette," both of which stemmed from the West Germanic "amaitjo" (cognate with the modern German word for ant, Ameise), which in turn was formed from two base terms: ai, meaning away from/off + mai, meaning to cut. Ant thus literally means "the biter off."
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SYNONYMS
antsy, fidgety, high-strung, hyper, impatient, jittery, jumpy, nervous, on edge, restless, restive, uneasy, wired
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SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"He's got ants in his pants about missing his connecting flight."
idiom
- to not be able to keep still because you are very excited or worried about something
(Cambridge Dictionary)
---
Ants are known as one of nature's most industrious species of animals. Hard-working and tireless, it seems they never stop moving. So it doesn't take too much imagination to understand what it means to have ants in your pants (US English for trousers). After all, if you literally had them crawling around in your pants, it would be difficult to sit still for very long.
This concept also takes the form of the adjective "antsy" (He's a bit antsy about his upcoming knee operation).
Sometimes when we are excited or worried, instead of having ants in our pants we might have "butterflies in our stomach." This describes that nervous feeling that can occur in the stomach when you have to give an important presentation or speech or when you have fallen in love for instance.
The term "ant" is from the Middle English "ampte" and Old English "æmette," both of which stemmed from the West Germanic "amaitjo" (cognate with the modern German word for ant, Ameise), which in turn was formed from two base terms: ai, meaning away from/off + mai, meaning to cut. Ant thus literally means "the biter off."
---
SYNONYMS
antsy, fidgety, high-strung, hyper, impatient, jittery, jumpy, nervous, on edge, restless, restive, uneasy, wired
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"He's got ants in his pants about missing his connecting flight."
