What it means
To get someone's goat means to annoy them so much you start rattling their patience. It's for those little habits, smug comments, or repeat offences that crawl under your skin and make you want to snap.
Usage examples
"His constant humming gets my goat, I cannot concentrate on a single thing while he keeps doing it."
"It really gets my goat when people queue-jump like the rest of us aren't even there."
"The dripping tap gets my goat more than anything, I can't sleep with that noise."
"That bloke in the office who chews with his mouth open really gets my goat."
"It gets my goat when the train app says on time and then the thing rolls in ten minutes late."
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Where it comes from
The phrase is recorded in American English from the early 1900s. A popular story links it to racehorses being kept calm by companion goats, then losing their edge if the goat was taken away. That tale gets repeated a lot, but it isn't nailed down as proven origin, so the exact picture stays a bit foggy.
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