Hot under the collar?

Reader question:

Please explain “hot under the collar” in this sentence: He gets hot under the collar discussing politics sometimes, especially when he tries to make a point with people who can’t take a different view.

My comments:

Politics is divisive. A lot of people live in what is called echo chambers, where they only talk to people who share their own points of view.

Echo chamber?

It’s an enclosed space where sound reverberates, like balls bouncing back off the floor.

In the proverbial echo chamber, people hear the same viewpoints repeatedly – from each other.

Hence, when they hear a different point of view, they automatically reject it.

That, I think, is why “he” in our above question gets hot under the collar.

In other words, he feels hot and bothered because he’s frustrated, perhaps even upset and angry.

“Hot under the collar” literally refers to a situation where one feels hot and gets sweaty in the neck area.

“Hot under the collar” is so-called because the phrase was popularized in 19th Century America, where it was fashionable for people to wear high collars to fend off the harsh winter weather.

Naturally, due to the high and presumably thick collars, people get sweaty around the neck area when they’re indoors, especially when room temperature is high.

Understandably so, right?

Also understandably, we feel our body temperature rise when we argue with someone in an excited manner.

An argument in this situation is sometimes called a heated argument and for good reason. As we get more excited, our body temperature rises as we literally feel our blood beginning to boil, so to speak

Hence, as you may guess, when people are described as getting hot under the collar, they are extremely tense, hot and exasperated.

Hence and therefore, in our example, that “he” gets hot under the collar simply means that he gets agitated – when discussing politics with people who can’t take a different viewpoint.

Understandable also, right?

Anyways, let’s read a few media examples of people getting hot under the collar for one reason or another:

1. Rudy Giuliani grew hot under the collar – literally, it seemed – during a press conference on Thursday in Washington, D.C., where he assailed the election results showing Joe Biden had triumphed over Giuliani's client, President Donald Trump.

Trump’s legal team, led by Giuliani, and their allies have mounted a series of long-shot challenges to vote counts in various key states, such as Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, as every state moves closer to certifying their results ahead of the December Electoral College vote that will almost certainly designate Biden as president-elect.

To try to stop this – a likely doomed effort, given the lack of proof, according to experts, many of whom warn the attempt itself is anti-democratic – President Trump, 74, and his lawyers have adopted various and sometimes contradictory strategies. This was illustrated late in Thursday’s press conference, organized by what Giuliani, 76, described as Trump’s “senior lawyers.”

After campaign legal adviser Jenna Ellis admonished a reporter that it was “fundamentally flawed” to ask “where is the evidence,” she went on to say the Trump team’s goal was to halt certification in the states in order to give them a chance to gather their proof and present it in court. In fact, some of the Trump-friendly suits have already failed in front of judges.

For some observers, the bizarre nature of the event was heightened by Giuliani’s impassioned tone and appearance. They pointed out that he was sweating profusely through much of the press conference, to the point that his hair dye or some other coloring substance appeared to begin dripping down the sides of his face.

Ellis said at Thursday’s press conference they had withdrawn a suit in Michigan because certification there had already been halted in Wayne County by two local Republican officials, as Trump wanted.

But when a reporter replied that, in fact, the Michigan secretary of state said certification was proceeding – the local Republicans in Wayne County voted for certification after all, then tried to take it back the next day – Ellis, Giuliani and Trump attorney Sidney Powell reacted dismissively.

....

Then Giuliani grew defiant.

“Follow the political party, ma’am. You’re actually seriously going to want me to take seriously the secretary of state of Michigan when the secretary of state of Michigan never bothered to find out that the votes in her state were being counted in Germany by a Venezuelan company?” he said, voice rising to a shout. “And you want me to take her seriously or him seriously? I mean, I was in government – if I were the governor of that state, I’d fire everybody that was involved in this election.”

- Rudy Giuliani Raises Eyebrows with Press Conference Attacking Election After First Court Appearance in Decades, People.com, November 19, 2019.

2. With the inaugural post-Brexit EU-UK summit fast approaching, many people are getting all hot under the collar about the need for the UK to be bolder in its attempt to ‘reset’ relations with the European Union. Is the Prime Minister being timid? Absolutely. Could closer links with the EU lead to greater economic gains? Of course. However, allow me, if you will, to be the grit in your lens, the fly in your ointment. There are sensible reasons on both sides (and we are prone to forget that there are two sides with a say on this) to adopt a cautious approach.

Let’s start with the UK. We know all about Labour’s plans for a ‘reset’. What is less often discussed is the fact that the economic measures proposed – on agriculture, touring artists, and professional qualifications – will have little or no impact on overall growth figures. When it comes to the EU, the real potential for growth is tied up with the customs union and single market (for the record, we should note the significant difference between ‘the’ EU customs union and ‘a’ customs union with the EU).

And these of course were Labour’s red lines both in its manifesto and subsequently. ‘So change them’, I hear people say. And yes, the circumstances now are very different to those when Labour were campaigning. We’ve got Trump. The need for greater investment in defence. And stubbornly sclerotic growth figures.

But if the government were (as I think it should) to revisit some of the pledges it made in opposition to take account of new circumstances, its EU red lines would not be – and should not be – its priorities. Those should be the rash promises about not raising tax, or the commitment to fiscal rules that stymie badly needed investment.

That’s the policy angle. But ultimately, the way to get a government to do something is to persuade them it’s in their political interest to do it. For all the perfectly sensible caveats about not reading too much into one set of local elections some four years away from a general election, it is hard to see these latest results making Mr Starmer keener to be bold on the economic reset.

And even if he were to be, negotiating a significant change in the relationship would take time. Implementing it would take longer still. The chances of any economic impact being felt ahead of the next general election are at best slim.

If, that is, such a deal could be negotiated at all. Which brings us to the other side of the coin: what’s in it for the EU? The first answer is ‘not as much as for the UK’. The EU are generally happier with the status quo under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement than we are. And why wouldn’t they be? It’s a far deeper deal when it comes to goods – where they send more to us than we do to them – than it is for services – where the opposite holds. And of course, we haven’t even put many of the checks on goods mandated by the TCA in place.

- UK-EU summit: don’t get your hopes up, by Anand Menon, May 15, 2025.

3. President Trump got hot under the collar during his “60 Minutes” interview with Norah O’Donnell that aired Sunday night, slamming her for bringing up Jeffrey Epstein’s pedophile ways in connection with the White House Correspondents' Dinner alleged gunman, Cole Allen.

On Sunday, Trump sat down to chat with O’Donnell at the White House about Saturday night’s shooting at the Washington Hilton, where the prez was gathered with the press and his cabinet for the WHCD event.

As you know, Allen allegedly dashed through the lobby, heading toward the ballroom where the world’s most powerful people were celebrating, but he got tackled along the way by federal agents.

During the mayhem, Allen pulled a gun and squeezed off several shots, with Secret Service agents returning fire, officials said. The only person hit was a Secret Service agent, but he sustained no injuries thanks to his bulletproof vest.

Allen was quickly arrested and now faces serious federal charges. Meanwhile, FBI agents seized his alleged manifesto, which he sent to his family before the WHCD shooting. In the manifesto, Allen allegedly wrote, “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”

O’Donnell parroted that line during the interview and asked Trump if he thought Allen was referring to him. Trump got pissed because of the obvious reference to Epstein and his longtime connection to the late pedophile, calling O’Donnell a “disgrace” on national TV.

Trump didn't stop there....

- Trump To Norah O’Donnell: You’re A Disgrace ..., TMZ.com, April 27, 2026.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：张欣）