Get up on the wrong side of the bed and wake up on the wrong side of the bed

Get up on the wrong side of the bed and wake up on the wrong side of the bed are idioms with ancient roots. We will examine the meaning of the phrases get up on the wrong side of the bed and wake up on the wrong side of the bed, where they came from and some examples of their use in sentences.

To get up on the wrong side of the bed means to start the day in a grumpy mood and remain that way for the entire day. An alternative rendering of the phrase is wake up on the wrong side of the bed. The generally accepted origin of the phrases get up on the wrong side of the bed and wake up on the wrong side of the bed is ancient Rome, where superstition was rampant. Ancient philosophers equated the right side of anything as the positive side, and the left side of anything as the sinister or negative side. The story says that Romans always exited the bed on the right side in order to start the day in contact with positive forces. If one rose on the left side of the bed, he started the day in contact with negative forces. It is interesting to note, however, that the earliest citation in the Oxford English Dictionary of the idioms get up on the wrong side of the bed and wake up on the wrong side of the bed is from 1801. Related phrases are gets up on the wrong side of the bed, got up on the wrong side of the bed, getting up on the wrong side of the bed, wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, woke up on the wrong side of the bed, waking up on the wrong side of the bed.

Examples

If you regularly get up on the wrong side of the bed, feeling groggy and grumpy, there may be a quick and easy solution to your mood woes. (Country Living Magazine)

The cause of Matt Beleskey’s upper body injury remains a mystery (“He got up on the wrong side of the bed,” cracked Julien), but he traveled with the team and is a possibility to play in Brooklyn. (The Boston Herald)

But it might make us both feel better to know that, according to a new study, waking up on the wrong side of the bedis apparently a real thing, not just a turn of phrase or an excuse to avoid small talk in the elevator. (Elite Daily)