Who gets bugged by cops, when your just skating, then they flip out over nothing. It's pretty retarded.

Could you explain "flip out over nothing"?

Most of us are probably clear on some of the more literal meanings of the word flip: we flip a coin before a soccer match to see which team kicks off or a gymnast performs a flip when they turn a somersault through the air.

But the combination of flip and out has a less literal meaning; it is a slang way of saying someone reacted strongly and abruptly to something, in an uncontrolled way. Basically, to say someone flipped out over something is to say it made them go crazy – crazy happy or crazy angry.

For example, "My friend will flip out when she hears I have got the new iPad 2," means the friend is expected to be incredibly excited about the news. In contrast, "My parents would flip out if they knew how little study I did for that English exam," suggests the parents would be furious.

The slang term is now so commonly used and recognized, the out can be dropped and the above meanings still implied. For example, "When she heard the news she flipped."

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本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Kim Bowden hails from Auckland, New Zealand, where she recently completed AUT University’s Postgraduate Journalism Diploma.