it drives me around the bend
it makes me very angry
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
"The traffic is DRIVING ME AROUND THE BEND. I don't think the city is big enough for it all."
- Cardiff taxi driver
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Research has shown that kids' endless chatter DRIVES PARENTS AROUND THE BEND.
(BBC News)
- Cardiff taxi driver
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Research has shown that kids' endless chatter DRIVES PARENTS AROUND THE BEND.
(BBC News)
Did you
know?
drive/send (s/o) around the bend
idiom
- to make someone extremely angry
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WORD ORIGIN
idiom
It's not clear how this figure of speech developed, but we can picture it as a calm, cool-headed person who always drives in a straight line. And since bend is another word for curve, "driving around a bend" suggests a straight driver suddenly being forced to drive around a curve in anger.
One thing is for sure though. There are a number of ways to say that someone or something is driving you to the point of madness:
- drive someone up a wall (has to do with the phrase "climbing the walls", as in going crazy)
- drive someone bonkers (bonkers is British slang for crazy, which may have its roots in the earlier sense of being slightly drunk)
- drive someone to drink (the idea here is that alcohol is the only escape alternative)
And then there is a whole list of phrases in which crazy is replaced with various synonyms:
You can drive someone: nuts, mad, wild, berserk, bananas, ape, batty, haywire, or insane.
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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO YOUR CONVERSATION TODAY
say something like:
"The noise from the construction site across the street is driving me around the bend!"
---
Thanks to daVinci for suggesting today's word!
idiom
- to make someone extremely angry
---
WORD ORIGIN
idiom
It's not clear how this figure of speech developed, but we can picture it as a calm, cool-headed person who always drives in a straight line. And since bend is another word for curve, "driving around a bend" suggests a straight driver suddenly being forced to drive around a curve in anger.
One thing is for sure though. There are a number of ways to say that someone or something is driving you to the point of madness:
- drive someone up a wall (has to do with the phrase "climbing the walls", as in going crazy)
- drive someone bonkers (bonkers is British slang for crazy, which may have its roots in the earlier sense of being slightly drunk)
- drive someone to drink (the idea here is that alcohol is the only escape alternative)
And then there is a whole list of phrases in which crazy is replaced with various synonyms:
You can drive someone: nuts, mad, wild, berserk, bananas, ape, batty, haywire, or insane.
---
SMUGGLE OWAD INTO YOUR CONVERSATION TODAY
say something like:
"The noise from the construction site across the street is driving me around the bend!"
---
Thanks to daVinci for suggesting today's word!
