...but I can't spell it.  what's the origin of a "knipshen fit" and
is it a Yiddish word like a "knish" or German like "knockwurst" or
neither?  now, don't go knocking yourselves out cause granny has but
$2 to spend today.

thank you kindly,
GB

Hello granny,

Correct spelling is "conniption" and as noted on this blog:
http://gradstud0.tripod.com/

Pronunciation: k&-'nip-sh&n
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
: a fit of rage, hysteria, or alarm "went into conniptions"

Bartleby's notes:
http://www.bartleby.com/62/17/C0311750.html

conniption fit 
  
NOUN: Informal. An angry outburst: fit2, huff, passion, tantrum,
temper. Informal : conniption. See FEELINGS.

A message board on words has this to say:
http://ransford.org/pipermail/word-l/2002-December/000158.html

"The word of the day is:

        conniption      \con-NIP-shun\, n.
                        Origin: unkown to OED.

        * Hysteria; a hysterical fit.

The OED mentions that it considers "conniption" to be "U.S. vulgar,"
which I'm sure it doesn't mean as any sort of insult. "Conniption fit"
is a common synonym of "conniption."

I ran across this word a while ago while reading a "Survivor" wrapup
on Salon.com:

As the group reads its tree mail, they figure out that they're going
to have to answer questions about the outback -- with help from their
family members, online!

Elisabeth has a conniption fit at the thought."

And user smalin at the Well (Stephen Malinowski)has this to say about
unknown word origins:
http://www.well.com/user/smalin/unknown.html

"Origin Unknown (words of unknown origin)

Where do words come from? Most words are variations or combinations of
words we knew already. This makes them easy to recognize and remember
(and makes it easy to figure out where they came from). Some words
created from scratch are coined by writers, which aids their
popularization (and likewise makes it easier to determine the
etymology). But most words of unknown origin have managed to make it
into our vocabulary without either of these advantages.

What kind of word can make it against such odds? As you'll see in the
list below, many have the advantage of onomatopoeia. But more than
that, these are words that you love to know, love to hear, love to
say.

I've given the dates of these words -- some from the Oxford English
Dictionary, and some from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary (which
is where you go if you click the "definition" button); these two
sources don't always agree. Some of the dates are obvious, for
example, that moola, pizzazz, snazzy, jazz and tizzy are all from the
early 20th century.

But there are some surprises. Who'd've guessed that things were nifty
as early as 1868? Or that nobody had zits before 1966? Or that you
could have taken a brief jaunt as long ago as 1570?..."

conniption (1833) 

Who would have thought it?

The Word Detective theorizes:
http://www.word-detective.com/032602.html

"Dear Word Detective: Despite polling many very expensively educated
brains, no one can tell me the etymology of "conniption," as in
"conniption fit." A friend of mine insists it's from the Yiddish, but
I beg to differ! Please help. -- Name (sort of) Withheld, via the
internet...

...A "conniption" or "conniption fit," as anyone who hangs out with
excitable people knows, is an emotional explosion, "anxiety attack" or
tantrum. Folks who are prone to "conniption fits" are most likely to
have them whenever anything goes wrong, or even not exactly right. If
you happen to find yourself in the vicinity of someone with a very red
face who is shouting "Heads will roll!" or some variation thereon,
you're witnessing a verifiable "conniption fit."

Your friend's theory about "conniption" being of Yiddish origin is not
absolutely impossible, but that's only because no one has yet been
able to establish exactly where "conniption" did originate. It first
showed up in English around 1833, and was defined in the 1848
"Dictionary of American English" as "a fainting fit," a common and
harmless 19th century reaction to stress. Today, unfortunately, the
conniption-prone are more likely to sue than swoon.

One suggestion advanced as to the origin of "conniption" ventures that
it may have arisen as a variation of or even a euphemism for
"corruption" in the antiquated sense of "anger" or "temper." (This
sense is found, for example, in Anne Bronte's 1848 "Tenant of Wildfell
Hall": "I am no angel, and my corruption rises against it.") It may
seem odd that "corruption" would have been a synonym for "anger," but
this sense seems to be rooted in the use of "corruption" to mean "the
evil side" or weaknesses of human nature..."

And Picket Fence notes:
http://www.geocities.com/PicketFence/7608/sayC.htm

"Exact origin of conniption unknown.---Possible: In British folk lore
conniptions were small furry animals that inhabited there homes. On
seeing one of these creatures the lady of the house was likely to have
a conniption fit."

So, there you have it!

Kind regards,

-=clouseau=-

well, hell fire, no wonder I couldn't find it.  twern't even close. 
ya think a word that's been around since 1833, granny woulda learnt to
spelt by now.  had to laugh on the "heads will roll" line.  granny had
a boss who announced that almost daily.  guess he was my "conniption
cousin."  this was just too delightful to read, inspector.  thanks a
bushelful of rolled heads.

your excitable granny,
GB

In the southern United States, it's also known as a hissy fit.

Perhaps a good heading for Granny's question would be "All the fits
that's news to print." :D

Clouseau,  you continue to impress me. Great answer, although I would
be courious to know if it's been used in recent cultural contexts,
such as movies or novels, and how it was used.  Maybe this would
warrant another question.

Thanks, rileybirder.

I didn't do a thorough search on this one, and only came across the
one current reference to Survivor. There may be more, but I would
think the term rarely used.I'll keep an eye open and see what's out
there.

-=clouseau=-

Here you go, rileybirder:

http://www.shoestring.org/mmi_revs/going-all.html

Going All the Way    USA - 1997 
 
Movie Review By Andrea Chase 

"...The guys, just discharged from the army, mark time wondering what
to do with the rest of their lives, while living at home and coping
with their mothers. Sonny's is a perky, pie-pusher. A woman so tightly
wound around her Betty Crocker church-going brand of denial that
Sonny's first reaction on arriving home is to retch violently. As for
Gunnar's, she's a hip-swiveling, cocktail-swishing vamp of the sort
that would send Sonny's mother into a first-class conniption fit..."

http://rewards.artistdirect.com/store/movies/title/0,,2176448,00.html

We Met On The Vineyard 

Running time: 88 minutes    Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance

"...Julianna Margulies and Ivan Sergei star in this romantic comedy
about a wedding gone awry when the bridegroom's recovering alcoholic
brother reveals that he slept with the bride years previously. The
revelation causes groom John to get cold feet and the bride's
controlling mother Carol (Dixie Carter) to have a conniption fit. Can
the resulting damage be mended? ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide"



http://www.splicedonline.com/99reviews/bluestreak.html

Jewel thief Lawrence poses as cop to get his loot back in funny but
flawed 'Blue Streak'

"...Release from jail two years later, he returns to the site only to
discover it's become a police station and throws a hilarious curb-side
conniption fit before composing himself and walking away, gears
a-grinding on ways to get inside without arousing suspicion..."


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/americancollection/ponder/ntof_daniel.html

Daniel and Bonnie Dee
From The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty     excerpted from chapter 2


"...So -- that very day, after Uncle Daniel finished turning the
tables and was just through telling us about it, and we were all
having a conniption fit in here, Uncle Daniel moseyed down the street
and in five minutes was inside the ten cent store. That was where he
did all his shopping. He was intending to tell his story in there, I
think, but instead of that, he was saying to the world in general and
Bonnie Dec at the jewelry counter in particular, "I've got a great big
house standing empty, and my father's Studebaker. Come on -- marry
me."


So there are just a few for you!

-=clouseau=-

Clouseau --

Interesting sources for the word.  I'd have guessed that it was a
ruralism, as my mother (an Ohio farm girl) used it extensively.  The
last source that I'd have ever guessed would have been Yiddish.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA