Hast du das gehört, und möglicherweise waren "bridges" gemeint ?
Ich habe nicht den Eindruck, dass diese "britches hier gemeint sein könnten - es passt nicht.

to be "too big for your britches" = behaving as if you are more important than you really are.

One of my Dad's favorite saying, when his 3 girls were getting out of line :-))

Es geht tätsächlich um britches, und bedeutet dasselbe wie "too big for one's boots", also dreist, vermessen, unbeschieden, oder einfach zu selbstsicher werden.

LEO übersetzt "too big for one's boots" mit größenwahnsinnig werden, wobei dieser Ausdruck mir als Engländer leider nicht vertraut ist.
Dictionary: größenwahnsinnig

If you are too big for your britches it means that you have a very self-inflated impression of yourself. There are many terms you can use in German, for example: übertriebene Selbstschätzung

Hmmm. Ist ja gut und schön, dass das ein Idiom ist.
Aber (unter Bezug auf die vollständige Anfrage):
ist es solchen Leuten wirklich selbst peinlich, dass sie solche Wichtigtuer sind ?

I never associated being to big for my britches with "größenwahnsinnig" - but then, this phrased was most often used from parent/adult to child/teenager who was "testing his/her wings" by talking back, voicing an opinion contrary to that of "authority" (at least, that's when I heard it most) :-)

@ carly,
Yes, I heard that saying, too, a few times as a kid.
Means something like 'Klugscheißer', 'altklug', 'Große Klappe und nichts dahinter'

peinlich, ist, daß man darauf aufmerksam gemacht wurde. 'brought down by a peg or two' as my mother would say!

algood - Your parents must be related to mine - yep, we were alos brought down a peg, or two - when we weren't being "chips off the old block" :-))

... and if we didn't listen to our parents' rantings, it would be like 'water off a duck's back'

@Carly-AE, algood, Mike, Steve:
Well then, dear, thank you very much for "bringing me down a peg" and teaching me a few phrases of education (which I will try on my three sons ;-) ).

btw, an alternative spelling would be breeches

Als spöttischen Kommentar zu einem Kind, das seinen Eltern gegenüber altklug auftrumpft, gibt es auch noch:

"Da will das Ei klüger sein als die Henne!"

Gern gemommen auch "Die Krümel sind ruhig, wenn die Kuchen sich unterhalten" ...

Mmmh, kids should be seen and not heard

@algood - #16 - yep, sounds VERY familar :-)
# 11 - Unless we took to what they were saying like ducks to water, but did we ever :-)

@algood - or "beautiful but not loud" ?

"So lange Du die Füße unter meinen Tisch streckst, ...". Lang nicht mehr gehört ;-)

Carly, anh, we never did - after all, they had never been young and completely and utterly failed to understand us and our concerns and interests ;-)

Exactly, Bacon - And did your parents also walk "barefoot" to school through tons of snow to get an education :-))

Not exactly barefoot, but allegedly the two brothers had only one pair of shoes between them, so they had to hop 20 km to school (and back) in all kinds of nasty wheather you wouldn't put a dog out in just to get said education ;-)

So, of course, we were just a pack of bloody nancies when it came to going out in a storm ;-)

Carly, that sounds like "wir hatten ja nüscht" ;o)

# 13: too big for one's breeches

Bacon, Same principle :-)) When I was about 14 years old, I first learned that my Dad not only had SHOES to wear, BUT also his own horse to ride the mile (not 10) to school :-))

Dragon, He did grow up on a farm/plantation - his Dad was the overseer of miles and miles of cotton, tobacco, etc. My mother couldn't resort to these stories, since she's a "city slicker" :-)

This is what life was like when I was a kid:

http://www.phespirit.info/montypython/four_yo...

Phantastic, algood! Thanks for that!

HILARIOUS, algood! Thanks for sharing - you poor kid, you :-))

Here's another one along the same lines: Tony Capstick

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=I2AcJSkUw6M&fea...