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white-knuckle

worrying (adjective)

TRANSLATION

knuckle = das Fingergelenk, der Fingerknöchel, der Knöchel; white-knuckle = aufregend, dramatisch, hochspannend, nervenaufreibend

STATISTICS

IN THE PRESS

"Aided by a vigorous flow of dollars into the Mexican economy, Mr. Ortiz has built a solid currency out of the rubble left behind by the peso's WHITE-KNUCKLE collapse in 1994. His formula: a transparent anti-inflation policy built on high interest rates."

The Wall Street Journal

Did you
know?

white-knuckle (knuckle pron. NUCK-all)

adjective, informal

- causing worry, fear, apprehension, or panic

www.dictionary.com

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ORIGIN

This interesting idiom relates to how people clench their fists when under extreme stress. When fingers are held tightly together blood flow to the knuckles is reduced - hence the white knuckles. Biologists tell us that this is a fight-reflex.

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USAGE

Here are a couple more examples from the press:

"WHITE-KNUCKLE Waiting: The Mars Odyssey Orbiter is less than two weeks away from its destination, zooming toward the Red Planet with two wounded instruments and the hope of an entire space agency driving it onward. It is a must-win situation for NASA and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), coming on the heels of two failed missions to Mars. (Robert Roy Britt, Senior Science Writer, 11 October 2001)

"WHITE-KNUCKLE Time on Nokia: The Street's wringing its hands over Nokia. Nokia's stock dropped 17% last week on worries that it will have to back off its month-old revenue estimates for the third quarter. (Tish Williams, Senior Writer, TheStreet.com 14 Aug 2001)

BTW, note also the common English expression "to knuckle down" = to start serious, concentrated working (sich an die Arbeit machen).  

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TALKING POINT

To what extent does the number anxiety-related words in a language say something about that culture's mentality? Here are some interesting informal synonyms:

uptight, a bundle of nerves, on tenterhooks, with butterflies in one's stomach, like a cat on a hot tin roof, jittery, twitchy, in a state, in a stew, all of a dither, in a flap, in a sweat, in a tizz/tizzy, het up, in a twitter, strung up, windy, having kittens, in a (flat) spin, stressy, like a cat on hot bricks, antsy, spooky, spooked, squirrelly, in a twit

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Practice OWAD in a conversation today

say something like:

"Manfred's high-speed drive to the airport was a WHITE-KNUCKLE ride for our American guests."

More Word Quizzes: