/miːɐ̯ plat͡st deːɐ̯ ˈkʁaːɡn̩/ lit. ‘my collar is bursting’
German idiom, colloquial. To suddenly lose your temper.
Draft Not yet checked by a native German speaker.
How do people use Mir platzt der Kragen
?
Colloquial, used for the moment patience runs out, usually after a long buildup. The collar is the subject and the angry person is in the dative: “mir platzt der Kragen”, “ihm platzte der Kragen”, “ihr ist der Kragen geplatzt”. “Gleich” turns it into a warning: “Mir platzt gleich der Kragen!”
Also said jemandem platzt der Kragen, es platzt mir der Kragen
Mir platzt der Kragen
in real sentences
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Mir platzt gleich der Kragen.
I’m about to explode.
Tatoeba, sentence by Esperantostern, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Ihm ist der Kragen geplatzt.
He blew his top.
Tatoeba, sentence by raggione, translation by sundown, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Mir platzt der Kragen
come from?
The Redensarten-Index explains it with the tight feeling of a shirt collar around the neck when you’re worked up, as if the neck swelled until the collar burst. Wolfgang Pfeifer’s etymological dictionary (on DWDS) notes that Kragen first meant neck or throat, which survives in older phrases about execution such as “es kostet ihn den Kragen” (16th century), but places “ihm platzt der Kragen” with the modern meaning of a collar on a piece of clothing.
Mistakes learners make with Mir platzt der Kragen
Making yourself the subject: “Ich platze der Kragen”. The collar does the bursting, so it’s “mir platzt der Kragen”, and in the perfect it takes “sein”: “mir ist der Kragen geplatzt”, not “hat geplatzt”.
Other German idioms like Mir platzt der Kragen
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