What does as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs mean?

Answer 1

If you were a cat with a long tail how would you feel about having all those rocking chairs that might run over your tail? You'd be really nervous.

It means that person is very nervous because a cat with a long tail in a room full of rocking chairs is in great danger of getting its tail crushed by one and so it is nervous and twitchy.

Think about it. A cat with a long tail would be afraid that one of the rocking chairs would squash his tail if he wasn't careful. Careless cats sometimes get stepped on. This is similar because unless the cat's careful with his long tail, it will more than likely get squashed by one of the rocking chairs.

You would have to think of the scenario to understand it. Imagine you are a cat. Cats are good hunters, and as such, they are naturally jumpy. Now rocking chairs move. A cat with a long tail would be likely to make the chairs move. The chairs moving would startle the cat, and reacting, the cat would cause more chairs to move, and may end up completely terrified. So a person comparing someone to that is saying that the person is quite nervous or scared.

This expression uses an interesting image: it compares a person (in this case, Ted) with a cat, and not just any cat-- a cat with a long tail, trying to make his way through a room without getting hurt. Any one of the rocking chairs could land on the cat's tail at any time, crushing it very painfully and making it impossible for the cat to move. In other words, the image tells you that Ted is really ill-at-ease and insecure, just like a cat trying to get through a room before someone in a rocking-chair catches him by the tail.

A cat with a longer tail would have a better chance of getting it "rocked on" from the rocking chair. It probably hurts really bad.