Interesting to note that the link between emotions and the 'gut' are all over the place in English:
'trust your gut'
'I have a gut feeling'
'I hate his guts'
'my gut reaction'.
'trust your gut'
'I have a gut feeling'
'I hate his guts'
'my gut reaction'.
I don't speak too many languages, but I 've noticed that grokking English expressions isn't too hard for most tourists. "Chip on the shoulder", head in the game (or the clouds), foot in the mouth, butterflies in the stomach, etc; all seem fairly understandable to tourists who hear the expression.
Some have a very literal origin - "scared shitless", for example - that I would look for first.