EVER since a new family has moved into the house next to ours I have not known a moment’s rest. Their teenage son’s loud music drives me up the wall. I am at my wits’ end trying to find a way out. All my requests to keep the volume down have fallen on deaf ears. I had a half a mind to give him an earful but my mother said that it wasn’t a good idea to rub one’s neighbours the wrong way. So I decided to keep my peace, but what happened last week really made me hit the roof.

I had some exams to take and was fed up with the never-ending din from across the boundary wall. I went over to personally request him to play the music quietly for a week. But, sorry, no such luck. As usual, talking to him was like water off a duck’s back. Hardly had I sat down with my books and breathed a sigh of relief at the prospect of a long-awaited respite that Jennifer Lopez was once again belting out the latest UK-top-of-the-pops number. Now that really got my goat.

Even my normally peaceable father threw a fit. Unlike me, my dad doesn’t lose his cool easily, but once he does, you’d better watch out! In spite of our best efforts to calm him down he stormed straight to our neighbours’ house and gave them a piece of his mind. Needless to say, we have not been on speaking terms with them since. So much for neighbourly harmony.

Drive someone up the wall: make someone very angry

To be at one’s wits’ end: to be very upset because one has not been able to solve a problem even though one has tried very hard

Fall on deaf ears: if someone’s words fall on deaf ears, no one pays any attention to them

Have half a mind to do something: used when you are considering doing something but are not sure if you will do it

Give someone an earful: to tell someone about something you are upset or angry about.

Rub someone the wrong way: to annoy someone by the way you behave towards them

Keep one’s peace: keep quiet even though there is something one would like to say

Hit the roof: suddenly become very angry

Be fed up with something: to be annoyed or bored with something and wanting it to change

No such luck: used to say when you are disappointed because something good that could have happened did not happen

Like water off a duck’s back: used when advice, warnings or rude remarks have no effect on the person at whom these are directed

Breathe a sigh of relief: to not be worried any longer about something that had been worrying or frightening you

Get someone’s goat: really irritate someone

Throw a fit: react in a very angry manner

Lose one’s cool: become angry

Watch out: used to tell someone to be more careful, especially in a dangerous situation

Give someone a piece of your mind: to tell someone how angry you are with them

Not be on speaking terms: used when two people are so angry with each other that they refuse to speak with each other

So much for something: used to say that something you tried to do did not work as it was supposed to, or that something that was promised did not happen

(Reference: Longman’s Advanced American Dictionary)