If you’ve snapped at someone today in a way and/or for a reason they think is unjustified, they may well have raised their eyebrows and said (either to your face or as they walked away, depending on their bravery): “Well someone got out of bed on the wrong side this morning!”
So what does being in a foul mood – er, sorry, I meant to say a bit sensitive – have to do with which side of the bed you exit from?
Supposedly this saying stems from ancient superstition. The belief was originally that you should get out of the opposite side of the bed from which you entered it, but by Roman times, the left side had become associated with the devil or evil spirits. If you mistakenly got out on this ‘wrong side’, you would expect to have a day full of bad luck, swayed by evil influences – meaning you would be grumpy from the word go.
But then, is that the left side as you’re looking at the bed, or the left side as you’re lying in it…