Devenir chêvre

‘Devenir chêvre’, or ‘to become a goat’, means to get angry. This is interesting when contrasted with the English idiom ‘to get your goat’.


The origins of this phrase are founded in the fact that goats used to be housed with cattle, as it was believed they had a calming effect. Consequently, if you ‘got someone’s goat’ it would result in agitated cattle.
The French obviously had other ideas about the temperament of goats. According to Expressio, goats were brusque and aggressive, hence the use of ‘devenir chêvre’ to denote someone getting angry.