The 'wrong' side of the bed

Yesterday I awoke to a warm breeze and the smell of spring sprinkling through my room. I looked over my alarm clock, which happens to double as my cell phone. The time read 9:30. I had a brief panic attack thinking I was late to work, but my panic quickly turned to utter joy as I realized it was Sunday. I inhaled deeply and stretched; it’s beautiful out, and I don’t have to get up – this day was definitely beginning on the right side of the bed.

“The right side of the bed,” I exclaimed as I decided to let my words reflect my thoughts. Suddenly, I got to thinking about the oddity of that phrase. Well actually, the phrase is “someone got up on the wrong side of the bed,” but you know, same difference.

So intrigued, and unable to hold in curiosity when an eternity of information can be obtained with a couple clicks, I stumbled out of bed and over a couple shoes to my computer. One visit to Google and this is what I found:

GET UP ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BED - "The wrong side of the bed is the left side, according to a superstition that goes back to the time of the Romans. People have been saying other people 'got up on the wrong side of the bed,' 'awoke surly or grouchy,' for well over three centuries now, usually not knowing the real meaning of what they are saying, but the equally old expression 'got up left foot forward' tells the story. The supposedly sinister nature of the left is reflected in many English superstitions and expressions, such as the belief that it is unlucky to put your left shoe first, or to walk into a house left foot first. The Romans, especially Augustus Caesar, were very careful that they got up on the right side of the bed, but there is no evidence that they were less grouchy than anyone else."

Ummm…this did not really explain anything, except that Caesar got up on the right side of the bed. Excuse me ‘Origins of Phrases Dictionary,’ my appetite for legend and reason was not satisfied by that explanation. I could have come up with something better myself. I can’t believe I just got up for that, what a waste.

I retreated back into bed with the goal of somehow spiting the phrase’s derivation for being lame. So I lay down for another half-hour and then rose. I scooted as far left on the bed as possible, stuck out my left foot and jumped as hard as I could to the floor. If I’m not going to get an interesting explanation, I’m going to prove the phrase wrong.

And you know what? I did – because the warm, breezy, spring-smelling day turned out to be just as pleasant as I first anticipated.

And I just wanted you all to know.