the suspense is killing me

the suspense is killing me

cliché I am overcome with anxious excitement or apprehension about some unknown outcome. A: "The professor said our test results would be posted online sometime this afternoon." B: "I know—the suspense is killing me!"
See also: killing, suspense
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

the suspense is killing me

I can’t wait to learn the outcome. This hyperbole of impatience is a twentieth-century expression of an age-old idea. “Suspense in news is torture, speak them out,” wrote John Milton (Samson Agonistes, 1671). Jonathan Swift claimed, “It is a miserable thing to live in suspense; it is the life of a spider” (Thoughts on Various Subjects, 1714), and F. E. Smedley wrote, “Suspense, that toothache of the mind” (Frank Fairlegh, 1850).
See also: killing, suspense
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
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