GET UP ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BED, GET/GIVE (SOMEONE/SOMETHING) SHORT SHRIFT, GET/GIVE (SOMEONE) THE COLD SHOULDER: American English Idioms #89

GET UP ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BED

Getting up on the wrong side of the bed is a common expression used to describe someone who wakes up in a bad mood. The expression is meant to convey that what one does when they wake up reflects heavily on their mood for the rest of the day. It also arose from an idea that getting out of bed with your left foot first would make you grumpy and supposedly affects more than just one’s mood for the day.

This idiom can be interpreted as having a bad attitude in the morning, which is mainly due to being woken up too early by an alarm clock.
Alternatively, it could mean that someone was in a bad mood before they went to bed, and then ended up waking up on the wrong side of the bed. This is often caused by stress or anger, but sometimes it can happen after consuming alcohol.

The idiom “get up on the wrong side of the bed” is used to describe someone who seems irritable, grumpy, or down in the dumps. This phrase can be used literally to describe someone who slept on their less-preferred side of the bed, or figuratively to describe a person who slept poorly for some other reason.

This is one of several common idioms that are derived from human characteristics of animals including cats and chickens.

In this context, the phrase “getting up on the wrong side of the bed” means being grumpy or having a bad attitude from the moment one wakes up. It can also imply feeling irritable after a poor night’s sleep.

GET/GIVE (SOMEONE/SOMETHING) SHORT SHRIFT

Oftentimes, when individuals are on the receiving end of a “short shrift,” they find that their arguments and reasoning have been ignored altogether. This is typically seen in people who have been on the defensive side of an argument, arguing against another person or group. In these cases, it will be clear that the person or group on the other end is not really listening to what has been said and they do not seem to care about hearing responses.

Short shrift is an idiom that means to “get little or no time, attention, or consideration.” The phrase is rooted in the word “short” meaning having a limited amount of time. This can be seen through its use in theatrical contexts, where actors would get the very short end of the stick when sharing lines with other actors.

The idiom ‘get someone short shrift’ can be used to describe a situation in which someone is treated poorly, given insufficient time to complete a task, or simply spoken to in a dismissive manner. The use of the phrase has its roots in the phrase ‘short shift,’ meaning a quick and dirty job, as well as the use of ‘shrift’ as a noun for confession.

A person can get short shrift when they are ignored or not taken seriously. This is a word that is often used in academic jargon as it means that someone will be given little attention or deference.

The idiom to get someone short shrift is to give someone inadequate or dismissive treatment. This would typically happen when the person giving the treatment has a superiority over the person getting the treatment, and that superiority is demonstrated in how they treat them. For example, if a person that is taller than someone else was about to walk through a doorway, they would not move out of the way for them and instead let them bump into them.

GET/GIVE (SOMEONE) THE COLD SHOULDER

This term is used to describe a situation in which one person

avoids another. The person on the giving end of the cold shoulder uses
brutal honesty to avoid being close with the other person, usually because
of some sort of past incident. In the receiving end, this behavior is usually taken as a personal attack and makes them feel rejected.

The cold shoulder idiom is referring to a gesture of dismissal, where one individual will turn their back on another. This typically signifies the end of communication and may be used as a form of punishment. The cold shoulder gesture is often employed in situations where the person being turned away has been deemed unworthy or undesirable by a superior.

A cold shoulder is a gesture made by turning one’s back on someone while withdrawing from communication.

The expression “given someone the cold shoulder” is used to denote a slight, such as when one would be given the cold shoulder by another individual. It’s not typically something that would be considered an insult or anything of that nature, but rather it is seen more so as a sign of rejection or disapproval from the other individual.

Giving someone the cold shoulder is a social idiom that refers to a person purposely avoiding another person. This can be done for a variety of reasons, such as revenge or rejection, and sometimes it’s to avoid certain events or topics. The origin of the phrase dates back to English aristocracy. In the 1500s, Queen Elizabeth I would make guests feel unwelcome by turning her left shoulder outwards when shaking hands with them.