words that make you grit your teeth

[kfergos]

I suspect those phrases came about originally so that guys could savor saying the words 'knickers' and 'panties' in mixed company.

I think it's the image that "panties in a twist" elicits that guys like so much.

I once read a book by Clive Cussler, my favorite bad prolific bad writer of all time, in which he said, "trapped like a duck in a closet."