Don't have a goat

Andrea wanted to know where we got the unlikely barnyard expressions "Don't have a cow" and "get your goat."

Rich found much the same thing I did, though I'm always open to other opinions. "Don't have a cow," which basically means "don't get so upset," is probably a reference to the physical and emotional trauma that would be involved if a human gave birth to a cow, suggesting that you not get so involved in the issue at hand. A previous version, Rich notes, was "don't have kittens."

The history of "get your goat," an older expression meaning "to annoy you," is hazy. Many sources say it derives from an old purported horse-racing practice of stabling a goat with a racehorse on the theory that it would keep the skittish horse calm. A competitor, so the theory goes, could remove the goat before a race and upset the horse.

Not every expert buys this explanation. The Henry Holt Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins says the expression may be related to scapegoat, one who's unfairly blamed for something; goad, to annoy; or a French phrase meaning "to take the goat," signifying that stealing the source of one's milk would be pretty unsettling. Take your pick.

Time for a new query:

I recently saw a bumper sticker with the letters WWFSMD and a curly squiggle of lines with two dots in the middle. What's that all about? - Sean

Know how to unravel that squiggle? Post your response on the Ask! blog, blogs.Rocky MountainNews.com/denver/ ask, or e-mail rudeenm@Rocky MountainNews.com.