Flying Under

Under the weather should be a place of shelter. It implies you have something between you and the weather, a ceiling or shroud protecting you from the elements. Rather the vernacular means that you are ill. Under the weather and ill implies that the weather must be good. The phrase comes from a British sailor who is sick going below ship and thus under the weather. No one I know is a British sailor, nor are they likely to know the source of the saying. But they will say it anyway. We all accept and use phrases and expressions without ever knowing the source and many times without knowing the accepted modern meeting either. I thought the phrase must have come from flying. Sometimes you fly under the weather to avoid turbulence. Associated with flight, under the weather implies you are well and safe, not ill. If you are truly under the weather wouldn't you be right under it as it is raining, hailing, snowing or otherwise beating down on you? Wouldn't that be more like the feeling of being beat down by a cold or the flu when you say you are under the weather? Stand out in an Arizona monsoon and feel under the weather. Walk a mile in a Michigan blizzard and feel under the weather. Are you under the weather or are you actually in the weather? So if you have a cold, where are you? Better to suffer in silence than misplace yourself. You can always say you are out of sorts, but then that begs the question of where is sorts? copyright 2009 vickers