Yesterday I was feeling a little "green around the gills." I was feeling "under the weather," whatever that means. Then I decided to find out exactly what that did mean. No use going around saying things that I don't even know their meaning or where they came from. Well after doing a little research I found out that the phrase (or in the grammar world the term Idiom), "under the weather", became popular back in 1827. Just imagine, it has been around that long. It supposedly came from an old sailor"s phrase. If a sailor got sick he went below the "weather deck" to recover. The weather deck was so named because it was the most exposed deck on the ship. So literally "under the weather' meant I am going down into the bowels of the ship,under the deck,because I am not well. Fascinating eh?
Other terms for being sick are, unwell, ailing, indisposed, not oneself, off, laid up, nauseous, airsick, seasick, carsick, travel-sick, bilious or queasy. Where did I get this litany of knowledge from? - well from a Thesaurus. If you are ever helping your child with his/her creative writing always have a thesaurus ready to go. You will find kids repeat the same words over and over again ad nausium. Show them this handy tool and your chid can expand his/her vocabulary (and mind) by exchanging their overused word with one or ones that mean exactly the same thing but give the story more variety and interest for the reader. Let both the dictionary and a thesaurus become your child's best friend as he/she creates stories.
I am feeling much better today and rather than being green around the gills am feeling in the pink. Guess I had better research where that came from. Blessings and read on.
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