Tuesday, 09 October 2007

Under the Weather : Origin and Meaning


As it most cases the meaning is not a problem. Usually used to imply that one is not feeling well or things are not going well, drunk etc.
Origin.
Most references I could find refer to seasickness. During bad weather passengers would get sick due to the rocking and rolling of the ship. Passengers would go below deck to avoid the bad weather, and where the rocking and rolling was slightly less. Therefore under the storm, or bad weather.
Another reference is also to terms nautical, namely “under the weather bow” which is at the sharp end of the ship that takes the brunt of the storm, and could make one seasick.
Anne made me think about this one

3 comments:

aniceplaceinthesun.blogspot.com said...

Thank you Graham! I have been wondering about the origin of this expression since yesterday! In addition, I love your Mark Twain quote, he is one of my favorites. :))

Be sure and have a great evening!

Ann

P.S. I'm over the weather now! :))

Anne said...

Thanks kindly! We were discussing this at work this morning and your blog post was very helpful. The Internet's amazing, isn't it?!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the kind comment, nice to have a real comment now and then instead of the marketing spam

graham