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Today on Language Snacks we take a look at the expression blow your top. Let’s listen to the dialogue.
A: Oh no! Quick, get a cloth!
B: What's the matter?
A: I've spilt my coffee all over Mark's papers!
B: Here you are. Oh dear, I'm afraid these papers are in a bad way. Will Mark be angry?
A: He's going to blow his top! He told me not to touch anything on his desk!
If you blow your top, you lose your temper, or suddenly become very angry. When I hear this expression, I think of a volcano erupting, suddenly shooting fire and smoke up into the air. However, I think the more common image is of boiling water blowing the top off a cooking pan. In both cases, the idea of heat and boiling is connected with the feeling of anger.
This connection is also true in other English expressions. For example, if something 'makes your blood boil', it makes you very angry. You could say, it makes you blow your top! Interestingly, a friend of mine from Turkey recently told me that the expression has a different meaning in Turkish, where if something 'makes your blood boil', it makes you excited.
