Here in the UK, when somebody is feeling just a little unwell, we often use the idiom that they’re feeling “under the weather” which is quite hilarious since the UK is often grey and aren’t we all feeling under the weather?!
Anyway, this got me to wondering, where did this phrase even come from? It’s something that’s said throughout our lives and very quickly gives us an idea of somebody’s wellbeing but why the weather? And why under it?
I may have been sliiightly overthinking this one but, thankfully, the language experts at LanguageTool have the answer.
So, like many of our old phrases, the origins aren’t entirely known but there is one common theory which does make sense.
LanguageTool explained: “No one knows for certain where this expression originated from, but there’s a popular theory that’s tied to nautical roots.
“Supposedly, way back then, when a sailor was feeling bad, he would retreat below the deck—away from the weather above—which could be described as being under the weather.”
The phrase being a nautical idiom makes so much sense when you consider how often we use nautical idioms such as “wide berth”, “on board”, and my personal favourite, “three sheets to the wind”.
However, there is also one other popular theory that claims that the idiom came to be via the old idea that the weather has a strong influence on one’s health.
Another thing we’re very prone to doing here in the UK is pointing to the weather and linking it to sickness.
How many times as a teen were you told you’d “catch your death” if you didn’t wear a jacket outside?
Plus, can us Brits ever stop talking about the weather? Nope.
