3. Nervous as a long-tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
Meaning: extremely anxious. As in, before I went on stage to speak, I was nervous as a long-tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs. The connection is fairly obvious. The phrase is just one long form colloquialism. Another good one: “orange on an apple tree.” As in, I walked into church in my overalls and everyone else was in a suit. I felt like an orange on an apple tree.
