![]() ![]() ![]() If someone has been sad but becomes more cheerful, we say that they cheer up or perk up. In British English, we also say that we are thrilled to bits. If you are extremely pleased about something that has happened, you can say that you can’t believe your luck. ON CLOUD NINE MEANING ORIGIN FULLMoving away from height metaphors, In British and Australian English, we can say (rather sweetly, I always think) that someone in a generally happy mood is full of the joys of spring. Similarly, something that makes you feel happier is said to lift your spirits. We can say that we are walking/ floating on air, on top of the world or over the moon. Several other happiness idioms rely on the metaphorical idea of being in a very high place. In fact, you are in seventh heaven (from the belief in some religions that there are seven levels of heaven, the seventh being the highest). Still, it’s enough to know that if you are on cloud nine, you are extremely happy. Nobody really knows the origins of this phrase – one theory is that it refers to the cumulonimbus cloud that was number nine in the ‘International Cloud Atlas’ and rises higher than all other clouds, while another relates to one of the stages of enlightenment in Buddhist thought. Let’s start with the phrase I’ve used in the title: on cloud nine. My last post was all about sadness, so it is good to turn to a more cheerful subject: happiness. ![]()
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