which would of course have collared the CA for the whole Fed if there had been just a single honour.ДЇrom Zeno, Grab (1970) :

mates, just got me knickers in a twist after the New Year celebrations when I wrote the column! Also got my wires crossed when I gave all the glory to Frank and Graham Wright for CA in Kent & Sussex Fed in '68. Here they are.ДЇrom Pigeon Racing News and Gazette, volume 25 (1969): Without hesitation she seized the opportunity of escape, and leapt to her feet.Д«ut the next seven matches are for 'knickers in a twist'-one match for the phrase from 1969, three from 1970, and three from 1971.

'You're marvellous,' sighed Barney loosening his grip on her slightly. 'Oh do stop it,' she gasped as their lips broke away from each other with a resounding plonk. The earlist two Google Books matches are for 'knickers in a knot'-first in Wilbur Smith, The Train from Katanga (1965) as cited in the Yale Dictionary of Modern Quotations above, and then from Frank Norman, Barney Snip-Artist (1968): It bears noting that Wilbur Smith is not originally from the UK or Australia (the two countries suggested in the OP's question as sources of the allied expressions 'knickers in a twist' and 'knickers in a knot'), but from Zambia (or Northern Rhodesia, as it was then known). 'Okay, okay, don't get your knickers in a knot, bucko.' He sauntered off down the corridor.' Often the sentence is merely a rebuke to someone displaying agitation or anger, but sometimes it is used proverbially-as general counsel against incurring or succumbing to needless irritation. However, Charles Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred Shapiro, The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs (2012) gives pride of place (or at least fame of first occurrence) to 'knickers in a knot':Дon't get your panties (knickers, undies, drawers, etc.) in a twist (bunch, wad, knot, etc.).ДЎ965 Wilbur Smith, Train from Katanga (New York: Viking) 145: ''Well, bugger off, then,' snarled Bruce. British informal This expression was originally used specifically of women, the humorous masculine equivalent being get your Y-fronts in a twist. Get your knickers in a twist become upset or angry. Judith Siefring, The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms, second edition (2004) has this: This nuance perhaps influenced by the earlier, synon get (one's) knitting twisted. get (one's) wires crossed, or have a leg over. To be under a misapprehension, or muddled, about something, as ' 'fraid he's got his knickers in a twist on that one': since late 1960s: coll. 'Just pay attention to what I say and then we'll have nobody adrift or roundabout mid-forenoon getting his knickers in a twist' ( Heart).-3. Get (one's) knickers in a twist, to get flustered, to panic: coll: since 1960 at latest. , don't become cantankerous or contentiously touchy: both among men (implying femininity) and from men to women: since ca. In use by 1971.Д®ric Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, eighth edition (1984), however, assigns the expression a much earlier origin:

Nigel Rees, A Word in Your Shell-like (2004) has this brief entry for 'knickers in a twist':Дon't get your knickers in a twist! 'Don't make a drama out of a crisis, don't get worked up or confused or you'll make the problem worse.' As 'knickers' (for female underwear) is solely a Britishism, this phrase has not travelled.

Don t get your panties in a twist