my goat

[Over the top]

What does 'my goat' mean in the following sentence?
paying for water in restaurants is one thing that really gets my goat.

Edit: I googled and found the answer , is this idiom common nowadays? because one of the explinations said goats were people's only source for milk and if someone took them, they become so irritated. Today, things became different, there are many things more vailable than a goat.

 

[Tullia]

"to get one's goat" = to annoy/irritate someone, to get on their nerves


There was a group of noisy teenagers on the bus playing loud music. They really got my goat.


I don't like her. I don't know what it is about her; I think maybe it's just the way she always ignores people that really gets my goat.

 

[Tullia]

I think it's more Br Eng than Am Eng, maybe?

Even here it's a bit old fashioned, but still used - although more likely, I think, to be used by the older generations than by teenagers.

 

[emsr2d2]

I've actually heard it quite recently, said by a 30-something friend. I'm not sure he'd appreciate being referred to as part of "the older generation"!

Admittedly, it's nowhere near as common as:

Gets on my nerves.
Gets on my t*ts.
Drives me mad.
Drives me nuts.
Drives me insane.
Bugs me.


Note: the * above replaces an "i", by the way, before I start a trend for people saying "That really gets on my tots"!

 

[Tullia]

I've actually heard it quite recently, said by a 30-something friend. I'm not sure he'd appreciate being referred to as part of "the older generation"!

I'm 30, and I have recently started realising I am, indeed, an older generation to many people. It's scary.

 

[Ouisch]

"Gets my goat" is still commonly used in AmE, though perhaps I tend to associate with aging, elderly folks....

Some similar expressions that younger folks might use are:
"That really frosts my shorts."
"That really chaps my as*." (insert slang word for posterior)