This is a vocabulary-building post about feeling angry. I suppose if you’re interpreting at a conference, you’re more likely to hear expressions voicing mild anger or irritation, but in other settings, I can imagine people being furious.
Let’s get started with a game as a warm-up!
Idioms game
This is a word association game. Your task is to use the image as inspiration to help you find an idiom meaning ‘being angry/grumpy’. The idiom usually has 2-5 words, and if it’s a verb phrase (e.g. to fly into a rage), the first word is ‘to’ in the quiz, and the image might be a bird or a set of wings.
Get the idea? 😉
These idioms are all pretty informal; I wouldn’t recommend using them in a conference settings, unless the speaker is being very casual.
Did you get the answers?
to blow one’s top: I told her what happened, and she blew her top.
to explode: When I told my mum the mark I got in my last Physics test, she exploded.
to lose one’s rag
to see red
foaming at the mouth
to go ballistic
to throw one’s toys out of the pram (= to have a temper tantrum)
to get hot under the collar (this can also mean to be embarrassed)
Idioms – brainstorming
Set a timer for 3 minutes, and see how many more idioms you can come up with meaning ‘to lose one’s temper’!
to blow up
to fly off the handle
to lose the plot
to lose it
to have a hissy fit
to throw a fit
to have a strop
to have/throw a paddy – interestingly, this appears to come from the word Paddy (from Patrick), meaning an Irishman; the idea being that Irishmen were easily riled. Some people find this idiom offensive because of the stereotype, others don’t really recognise the link with Ireland anymore. It’s certainly a British American idiom, rather than American English, and very colloquial.
to be fit to be tied (I was fit to be tied when I heard the news.)
to be hacked off
to go berserk
to fly into a rage
to lose one’s cool
Now let’s see how many adjectives you know to describe people who are bad-tempered. Most of these are British English.
tetchy – a very British word meaning someone who gets irritated easily. May have first been used by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet.
ratty – feeling annoyed (informal)
waspish – someone who makes cutting, cruel comments and sounds annoyed (or the comments themselves can be described as ‘waspish’). Nowadays, in a different register, we would say ‘bitchy’.Â
querulous – this means someone complaining or fretful (from the Latin queri, to complain) – quite an old-fashioned word
crotchety – this word is used to describe a person who is difficult or cranky. A common phrase would be ‘a crotchety old man’.
snappy
surly – collocates well with ‘teenagers’!!
fractious
cranky
exasperated
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Quiz
What word for ‘furious’ is an adjective that originally meant black and blue, then pale, then red?
What word for ‘angry’ comes from the French (via Latin) meaning ‘to smoke’?
What old fashioned word for an ill-tempered person is an adjective describing one of the ‘humours’ (of which bilious is another)?
What word for ‘furiously angry’ could also be used to describe a light bulb?
What colloquial British English word meaning grumpy could also describe a rodent?
What adjective for ‘angry’ comes from a three-letter noun which is a synonym for ‘anger’?
What British English word for ‘grumpy’ may have been used first by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet in 1592?
What word for bad-tempered comes from the Latin word for ‘break’, ‘shatter’?
What British English word for ‘annoyed’, often used when talking to children, can be represented by this symbol: X ?
livid
fuming – informal
choleric – old-fashioned
incandescent (e.g. incandescent with rage)
ratty – informal
irate
tetchy
fractious
cross
Useful terms for meetings
Not all of the idioms and terms we’ve looked at so far are suitable for meeting situations, where people tend to be relatively diplomatic and avoid expressing very strong emotions. In general, some of the more colloquial idioms may not be formal enough – although it depends very much on the speaker’s style.
Here are some safe options for describing a feeling of irritation, rather than rage:
irritated
displeased
exasperated
put out
dismayed
And some options for saying that you’re very angry:
incensed – this is generally used about other people, rather than oneself, and has a tinge of being offended by someone’s words or actions, taking umbrage, e.g. She was incensed by the implication she hadn’t worked hard enough on the proposal.
furious
incandescent (often ‘incandescent with rage’) – this describes extreme anger
enraged
fuming – quite informal
livid
seething
infuriated (by…)
apopletic – this means ‘furiously angry’, so much so that it looks as if the top of his/her head is going to blow off! It comes from Ancient Greek via Latin, and means ‘to be disabled by a stroke’
beside oneself with rage
outraged
Of course, there are many other words and expressions, some of which are just too colloquial (or vulgar) for a meeting situation, e.g. pissed off.
Improvisation
Write a short letter to complain to a company about the terrible customer service you have received. Give details about what happened. Use several words or idioms that mean ‘angry’ or ‘furious’.
When you’ve finished, take a look at the example text.
I am writing to express my profound disappointment and frustration following my recent experience with your company. As a loyal customer, I am not only dissatisfied but downright infuriated by the treatment I received.
On 1st September, I contacted your customer service team regarding a faulty toaster. After waiting on hold for an excruciating 90 minutes, I finally spoke to a representative who seemed uninterested and dismissive of my concerns. Despite my attempts to explain the issue clearly, I was repeatedly interrupted and given vague answers that provided no resolution.
What has truly left me livid is that after being promised a follow-up within 3 days, I have heard absolutely nothing. I have since called back multiple times, only to encounter more unhelpful staff and endless transfers between departments. This level of incompetence and disregard is unacceptable.
I trusted your company to provide a certain standard of service, and this experience has shattered that trust. It is bewildering and maddening to feel so undervalued as a customer.
I demand an immediate response to this letter, as well as a clear explanation of what went wrong and how you intend to rectify the situation. A gesture of goodwill to address the inconvenience caused would also be appreciated.
Please understand that I am not just annoyed—I am outraged by the lack of professionalism and courtesy shown. If I do not receive a satisfactory resolution within two weeks, I will have no choice but to escalate this matter further.
I hope this letter serves as a wake-up call to improve the way you treat your customers.
Yours sincerely,
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Now:
Rewrite either your text or the example text to make it more informal. Use plenty of appropriate idioms.
Rewrite your text or the example text to make it more formal.
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Hi,
I’m writing because I’m absolutely fuming about how I’ve been treated by your company recently. Honestly, I’m at the end of my tether and feel like I’m talking to a brick wall every time I reach out.
On 3rd September, I contacted your customer service team about a faulty toaster. After waiting on hold for what felt like forever, I finally got through to someone who barely seemed to care about my problem. I tried to explain what was going on, but I kept getting cut off, and the answers I got were completely useless.
What really made my blood boil is that I was told someone would get back to me within 3 days, but here we are—nothing. Zilch. I’ve had to chase this up myself, only to be passed around like a hot potato between departments, and still no one’s helped me.
Frankly, I’m spitting feathers about this whole thing. I expected so much better from your company, and this has left a really bad taste in my mouth.
I need this sorted—pronto. I want a proper explanation of what’s gone wrong, what you’re going to do to fix it, and maybe a little something to make up for all the time and stress I’ve had to go through.
If I don’t hear back within 2 weeks, I’ll have to take things further, which is the last thing I want to do—but I will if I have to.
I really hope you take this seriously and start treating your customers properly.
Thanks,
Note how many idioms there are in this version. This supports the idea that idioms are often informal.
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MORE FORMAL
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing to formally raise my concerns about the unsatisfactory level of customer service I have recently experienced with your company. I am deeply disappointed and feel compelled to express my dissatisfaction in the hope that appropriate measures will be taken to address this matter.
On 3rd September, I contacted your customer service department regarding a faulty toaster. Despite waiting for an extended period to speak to an agent, the response I received was cursory and lacked the professionalism I had expected. My attempts to explain the nature of the issue were met with minimal engagement, and the advice provided was both vague and unhelpful.
I was assured during this interaction that my concerns would be escalated and that I would receive a resolution within 3 days. Regrettably, no such follow-up has occurred. Instead, I have been required to contact your company multiple times, during which I was transferred between departments without any clear resolution. This process has not only been inefficient but has also caused considerable frustration.
I must express my dismay at the lack of communication and accountability demonstrated throughout this ordeal. It is entirely unacceptable that as a loyal customer, I have been treated in such an unprofessional and dismissive manner.
I respectfully request a detailed explanation of the delays and lack of resolution, along with a prompt and effective solution to my original issue. Furthermore, I expect a gesture of goodwill to compensate for the inconvenience and time lost as a result of this situation.
Please respond to this letter within two weeks with your proposed actions to resolve this matter. Should I not hear back, I will be left with no choice but to escalate my complaint to the relevant consumer protection authorities.
Yours faithfully,
Â
Note how much milder the formal version is.
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I hope you enjoyed these exercises!
p.s. The word fractious is a very common term to describe political parties that argue, debates that are ill-tempered, etc.
Here are some examples from The Guardian:
“Thought for the Day” boring? So why does it provoke such fractious debate?
This is just one instance of the power of drawings, and their role in the often fractious relationship between architect and client
Fractious EU summit rejects Franco-German plan for Putin talks
But the EU, fragmented, disputatious and wounded to an extent unusual even by its fractious standards, is taking one day at a time.
