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Feel on cloud nine meaning3/16/2023 ![]() The source of the popularization of the term on cloud nine may be an American radio show called Johnny Dollar. This connection is dubious, as the term on cloud nine didn’t become well known until the 1950s. Cumulonimbus clouds are towering, fluffy phenomena. According to this work, there are ten types of clouds, cloud nine being the cumulonimbus. Some ascribe the origin of the idiom on cloud nine to the International Cloud-Atlas, a system of classifying clouds published in 1895. Both Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic had been knocked out of the tournament early. “I do feel like I’m on cloud nine still,” Federer said. The expression on cloud nine enjoyed a resurgence of popularity after its use by Roger Federer, describing his feelings after winning the Australian Open over Rafael Nadal in 2017, his eighteenth grand slam title. Cloud seven is still sometimes seen, but it is most probably a confabulation of two terms: cloud nine and seventh heaven. Interestingly, various numbers have been ascribed to clouds where someone is happy, including cloud seven and cloud thirty-nine. More crudely, if someone looks completely comfortable and happy in a situation, they are like a pig in muck.ĭo let me know if you can think of any other nice happiness phrases, or any interesting ones from your own language.The phrase on cloud nine describes someone who is very happy, who is on top of the world, who is elated. If someone is happy in an enthusiastic and lively way, we can say they are like a dog with two tails, and if they have a self-satisfied air, they are like the cat that got the cream. ![]() All of these phrases are slightly old-fashioned now. ![]() It is thought that ‘Larry’ is the undefeated boxer Larry Foley (1849-1917), and that ‘sandboys’ were youths whose job was to deliver sand for the floors of inns, and who were ‘happy’ because they were often rewarded with alcohol! The American version is probably a shortening of ‘as happy as a clam at high tide’, i.e. There are several rather strange similes connected with happiness: Brits and Australians are as happy as Larry or as happy as a sandboy and Americans are as happy as a clam. Something that brightens up your day makes you feel happier, and if you revel in a situation or an activity, you get great pleasure from it. 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. Moving 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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