"Keep your shirt on"

[Gerald Cohen]

 On Oct. 6, 2000 Paul McFedries wrote:
>
>I'm trying to track down the origin of the phrase "keep your shirt on,"
>which means "don't get angry or upset." So far, I have a couple of sources
>that trace it back to the ancient Viking warriors called "berserkers."
>Apparently, they were quick to anger and, in their fury, would rip off their
>shirts and fight bare-chested. Assuming this is a reasonable explanation, I
>was wondering if there is any connection to the word berserker, which
>apparently means "bear shirt" in Old Norse.

-----The expression has nothing to do with the Vikings.  It comes rather
from the practical custom of two (American)  boys or men about to get into
a rough-and-tumble fight and first removing their shirts so they wouldn't
get torn.  That's why "keep your shirt on" would be said to an angry
person;  the message was: "Cool down, we're not about to get into a fight."
By extension it can now be used to calm down any angry person, even though
there would be no chance of  a shirt being removed.

     The removing of shirts just prior to a fight may have been only a
frontier custom.  I do not know how widespread it was.

-----Gerald Cohen






gcohen at umr.edu