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...you'd be staring at the business end of a hissy fit

Joey is planning to celebrate Phoebe and Ursula's BDay with the last one. And he asks guys if Phoebe is going to be alright with it. But Chandler doubts:

- If you tried that on my birthday...
...you'd be staring at the business end of a hissy fit.

What is this expression "staring at the end of a hissy fit" mean?
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  1. Katie5 December 2011 at 02:51

    I found that the Urban dictuionary defines a "Hissy Fit" as an unreasonable emotional out burst. But the "staring at the end" part of the
    phrase then doesn't really make sense, does it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. None5 January 2012 at 00:07

    Мммм... Чендлер говорит "staring at the business end of a hissy fit". Если я не ошибаюсь, то "business end" означает дуло оружия или рабочую часть чего-либо, ну, а "hissy fit", как верно написано, всплеск эмоций. ИМХО, дуло тут больше подходит. Так что можно вольно перевести как "смотреть в дуло перед выстрелом [эмоций]".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Katie17 March 2014 at 04:17

      It is great! Thank you for pointing the mistake out. Chandler indeed says "staring at the BUSINESS end of a hissy fit". Now it is easier. As the dictionary.com says:

      "business end of something" is the dangerous end of something; the part of something that does something as opposed to the part one holds on to.

      Then staring at the end of a hissy fit. Would make the phrase thranslate into:
      "If you tried that on my birthday... you'd be about to face an emotionally unpleasant scene"

      Thanks!

      Delete
  3. Rick's Chick5 January 2013 at 01:05

    It means that Joey would be subjected to Chandler's bad temper. Chandler using the phrase "hissy fit" also makes him sound like a woman. Men do not throw "hissy fits"; they get angry. Chandler often says things or behaves in a slightly effeminate (female)way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Katie17 March 2014 at 04:21

      Thank you, Rick's Chick! I had no way of knowing that there are this extra layer the joke. I think I even read somewhere that they wanted to have Chandler actually turn out to be gay at some point. So I guess those feminine details about him were sort of serving that purpose too.

      Delete
  4. zombie-d0g14 March 2014 at 11:22

    The 'business end of' something is the barrel of a gun. Being the end of the gun that the bullet comes out of, it is thus the end of the gun that you 'do business' with. To stare down the business end of a gun is not just to have one pointed at you, but to be able to see DOWN the INSIDE the barrel--basically it is pointed directly at your head, so close that you can see inside it.

    About what Rick's Chick said: 'Hissy fit', I think, is more childish than feminine, but either way it implies Chandler is not very manly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Katie17 March 2014 at 04:24

      Thank you for bringing all those little dimensions to seemingly resolved joke-question. I so enjoy knowing it.

      Delete

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