Englishkeep one's cool
Meaning: To stay calm under stress; not to become angry.
Example: “Even when the projector failed, she kept her cool and finished the talk.”
Equivalents in other languages
Arabic: حط في بطنك بطيخة صيفي (ḥuṭṭ fī baṭnak baṭīkha ṣayfī) Literally: Put a summer watermelon in your belly
Danish: At slå koldt vand i blodet Literally: To pour cold water into the blood
Origin: "Cool" for emotional composure — not overtaken by strong feeling — is documented since at least the late 1300s, well before the modern idiom, and had fully shifted from describing the temperature of the surrounding air to describing an inner quality of calm, rational self-control by the 1500s. "Keep one's cool" itself is 1950s American slang, likely growing out of the earlier 18th-century expression "keep a cool head," with the parallel opposites "lose one's cool" and "blow one's cool" emerging around the same mid-20th-century period to describe the failure of exactly that same composure.
More English idioms
- keep the ball rolling To maintain momentum; to keep some process going.
- keep up with the Joneses To have the same standard of living as one's friends and neighbors do.
- keyed up Full of nervous anticipation; anxious; tense.
- kick the bucket To die.
- kick up one's heels To have a lively and fun time, usually at a party or dance.
- knock someone for a loop To shock, surprise, or astound someone.
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