Are you a morning person? I’m not, as Geoff will testify, and this morning I woke up con la luna storta! To make matters worse, I didn’t have a single idea for a blog, until Geoff took the chance of getting his head bitten off and suggested I write something about being in a bad mood, “after all” he said “you are an expert”. Grazie Geoff, amore mio!

So … here’s a list of expressions that describe being in a bad mood. Who knows, some of you may find them handy, especially if, like me, you need a good caffè before your smiley face wakes up.

Two ways of saying ‘to get out of the wrong side of the bed’.

alzarsi col piede sinistro (to get up with the left foot) or alzarsi col piede sbagliato (to get up with the wrong foot). In western culture left indicates Bad or Evil, and right is the symbol of Good. This goes back to the ancient cultures, such as the Etruscans and Romans, who, when using methods of divination, believed that things appearing on the left signified bad fortune and vice versa. So people would try to avoid putting their left foot down on the floor first when they got out of bed.

svegliarsi con la luna storta (to wake up with the moon lopsided), avere la luna storta (to have the moon lopsided) or avere la luna per traverso (to have the moon crosswise). All these expressions come from the belief that the phases of the moon have an influence on people, therefore they are used to describe someone who’s in a bad mood and intrattabile (intractable, cantankerous), e.g. stamattina mi sono svegliata con la luna storta! (I got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning); ti sei alzato col piede sbagliato? (did you get out of the wrong side of the bed?)

However, the moon can have a positive influence, so we also have the opposite expression, i.e. essere di luna buona, meaning to be in a good mood, e.g. come mai sei di luna buona stamattina? (why are you in a good mood this morning?)

A few ways of saying ‘to be in a bad mood’

avere un diavolo per capello (to be in a bad mood. Literally: to have a devil for each hair), e.g. ieri Giovanni aveva un diavolo per capello (Giovanni was in a bad mood yesterday)

essere di malumore/cattivo umore (to be in a bad mood), e.g. questo brutto tempo mi ha messo di malumore (this bad weather has put me in a horrible mood)

essere arrabbiato/a/i/e, incavolato/a/i/e, incazzato/a/i/e (to be angry), e.g. ero molto arrabbiata con Olga quando ha fatto cadere la mia tazzina preferita! (I was really angry with Olga when she dropped my favourite coffee cup!)

arrabbiarsi, incavolarsi, incazzarsi (to get angry, to get pissed off), e.g. quando ho ricevuto la fattura mi sono incazzato (when I received the invoice I got pissed off). N.B. incazzarsi is a rude expression, but much stronger than arrabbiarsi, i.e. equivalent to to get pissed off.

avercela (to resent, to be angry), e.g. perché ce l’hai con me? (why are you angry with me?); Olga ce l’ha con Gianni perché si è dimenticato il suo compleanno (Olga is angry with Gianni because he forgot her birthday.