Query: "throw a wobbly" (have a fit)

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

     One of my students mentioned "throw a wobbly" (= throw a fit).
She's from Jefferson City, Missouri but isn't sure where she heard the expression.

    I see "wobbly" listed in Jonathon Green's _Cassell's Dictionary of Slang_ with a relevant meaning: "[1930s+] a fit of nerves, of panic, of bad temper; thus one who has such attacks."  But I never heard of this word before.

    Is anyone familiar with this "wobbly" (and "throw a wobbly") in U.S. usage?

Gerald Cohen

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org