Squirrelly

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by wrholt

I've encountered Bourland's work before. Many of his ideas intrigue me. I have tried writing using E-Prime rules on a couple of occasions: obeying the restrictions sometimes makes expressing a particular idea very challenging.

I'd certainly get squirrelly if I should avoid using the substantive verb in my speech. I regard such ability to use substantive verbs as something genetically hardwired and what differentiated us from our evolutive cousins. They couldn't mix opinion and facts up, and we know how the story ended. [No substantive verb used in the whole paragraph ]

Originally Posted by Luna Azul

In Colombia, "chusco/a" means "apuesto", "bonito/a".

...

Entonces tendremos que cambiar la traducción. "Chúcaro" puede ser, aunque se usa en solo en una gran porción de América del Sur. Generalmente encuentro equivalencias entre el argot estadounidense y el lunfardo, y "when I'm feeling squirrelly" se me representó inmediatamente como "cuando se me alborotan los ratones" (ratones = impulsos o fantasías de carácter lúbrico o violento y que por momentos exigen un esfuerzo para que no invadan el consciente). Pero qué difícil es encontrar una traducción que acomode a todos los países.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Sólo por el asunto de la universalidad: "chusco" en México se usa para algo chistoso, que causa risa.

Creo que para nosotros, "when I'm feeling squirrely" sería "cuando me entra la loquera", "cuando me da por..."...después de preguntar alrededor probablemente encuentre alguna expresión más coloquial.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Awaken

Well this isn't official, but it may be easier to think of it as "weird + wild" in the sentence from Waiting.

Sometimes the term can be used for "weird + nervous" such as when you hear: "Stop acting so squirrelly" (when someone is fidgety and moving around funny)

Sorry if fidgety causes you to use the dictionary as well, but it is really the best English word to describe that movement.

Yeah, fidgety.

We'd also use this while driving a car and it got lose in the rear end. "I came around the curve and it got a little squirrely with me."

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by Perikles

I have never heard it in BrE

Yo tampoco. Si hubiera tenido que adivinar una definición habría apostado por algo como "ahorrador".

[aleCcowaN]

Then, "squirrely", strictly AE, with fidgety, jittery, eccentric and peculiar setting the boundaries of one of its meanings.

I think I should revise the translations I proposed because many years have passed and I still can't accept some differences between Spanish and English. English tend to describe in detail the external manifestations of behaviour while Spanish tries to reach its causes no matter the insufficient evidence.

In the context of the movie, "cuando ando nerviosito" is enough. I would also say in my corner of the language "cuando se me pela algún cable".