Under the weather?

To simply say you’re unwell is so plain. Let’s include idioms in our conversations.

“I did not attend school yesterday as I was feeling under the weather ,” said Janaki. Now don’t be surprised when you learn that Janaki’s excuse for missing school yesterday has nothing to do with the weather! What Janaki meant was that she felt unwell and so did not attend school.

Quite different

Well, ‘

under the weather ’ is an idiom and, like most idioms, means very different from the literal meanings of the words themselves. It means to be

unwell .

This idiom is believed to come from the sea. In the old days, when there was a storm and the sea was rough, the ship would rock back and forth causing the sailors to become seasick. The sick sailors would be sent below the deck to a lower point and away from the weather. Sailors were thus forced

under the deck by the weather and thus was born the expression under the weather .