Yup, kinda self-explanatory. And we have good ol' language maven Richard Lederer to thank for this one too.
"When a cat is attacked by a dog or other animals," he writes, "it aggressively arches its back, a response that suggested the phrase to get one's back up to describe humans aroused into anger."
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Source: Richard Lederer, host of "A Way With Words," on KPBS, San Diego Public Radio
Image courtesy Shoeboxblog.com. Used with permission.
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(We'd appreciate your kind thoughts tomorrow, as Maxwell goes in to have his teeth cleaned...!)
