What's the difference between 'conniption fit' and 'hissy fit'? Gestures with one? Which?

[bobbieinok]

Terms for same thing used in different regions of the country?

[radical noodle]

1. Same thing

Where I'm from, both are used interchangeably.

[frazzled]

2. A difference in degree and temperament

A conniption, according to Merriam-Webster, is "a fit of rage, hysteria, or alarm." If someone goes into conniptions (you took your Mom's car on the sly and then wrecked it, and she's mad as hell), you better run away. A conniption fit is out of control, sometimes verbally abusive or violent.

A hissy fit, on the other hand, is a "tantrum," usually over something fairly minor (Mom won't let you go out with your friends until you finish your homework, so you throw a hissy fit; the soup arrives lukewarm at the restaurant and you bawl the waiter out). A hissy fit (referring to cats, I guess, who hiss if you look at them the wrong way). If someone throws a hissy fit, you usually roll your eyeballs.

That is my understanding, at least. And yes, both men and women can have either a conniption fit or a hissy fit.

[GemDigger]

5. That fits for me too.

My aunt was a pro at using the two terms. She always used to say "stop at the hissy fit or the conniption will get you grounded."

[zipplewrath]

7. Pretty much

A conniption is a loss of control.
A hissy fit is a professional level whine.

[RobinA]

15. This Works For Me

My cat has a hissy if it's 5 minutes until dinner time and I'm still doing something not dinner-related. I, on the other hand, had a conniption when I came home one day from running errands and some psychopath had purposely hit two Canada Geese on the road at a high rate of speed.

[happybird]

3. They're used interchangeably here, too

I think of a hissy fit as whiny and a conniption fit as angry.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. I have heard "conniption fit" used outside of the south

but hissy fit used only in the South.

Conniption fit in my family was used to mean a tantrum by a young child, and occasionally to mean an adult woman having a rage tantrum.

[Fla Dem]

8. Oh God no. As kids (in the Boston area)we'd always say, "Mom's going to have a conniption fit."

[csziggy]

10. Of course "conniption fit" is not used much in the South

It far too many syllables for most Southerners.

I say this as a Southerner...

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. they haven't gotten around to make "hissy" a 3 syllable word yet, tho.

you know, like we say...oyyy-ill for oil. Tho I have heard it pronounced..."alll" here too.

[3catwoman3]

12. My "Long-Guyland" father-in-law...

...pronounced oil as "earl" and the burner into which he put it a "boiner." The "earl boiner" was in the basement.

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. I stumbled onto a new word down here, by happenstance.

The wonderful author Rick Bragg, whose family is frpm and in the NE corner of Alabama, writes a lot about his mother, who is now in her late 80's. He says she never left the house until she had put a hand on all 4 of the stovetop's "eyes". ( this was after her other house had burned down some 40 years before).

I was curious and so asked my next door neighbor, who was also born and raised here, if she was familiar with that expression, and she said yes, her family would use the word, altho she herself did not.

[csziggy]

14. True - but we can do it with a lot of other words!

That reminds me of one of the girl who lived in the dorm when I was in college. She was from Ohio and I could never get past her calling it the "Golf of Mexico." SHe simply could not pronounce the word "gulf" with a "U" sound rather than an "O" sound. But then she would make fun of my Southern accent.

I grew up hearing not only the local Florida accents, but my grandparents' Upper Peninsula Michigan accents, their friends' Mid-Western (anywhere from Ohio to Michigan and all states in between), and my mother's family's Alabama accents. SO my accent varied depending on who I was around - more generic when at grandmother's, more Southern when visiting in Alabama, and a total mix at school.

[dixiegrrrrl]

16. Guff.....the country people here abouts say "fishing down at the guff"

People trying to imitate Southern accents don't understand how many accents you can find in the South, and indeed even in the same county.

cajun still throws me a lot, esp. if spoken fast.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. A conniption fit (at least my mom's definition of it) is an expression of extreme fury

or frustration. A hissy fit is of lesser magnitude, it's more of a snarly snit, like an annoyed cat. Mom's synonym for hissy fit (when we were having one) was the Norwegian word forstyrrelse, meaning commotion or disturbance.

[akraven]

9. A conniption fit is a moose in the driveway............

a hissy fit is the cat trying to get to the moose in the driveway!