Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?

Reader question:

Please explain “wake up on the wrong side of the bed”: He was grumpy at breakfast. Did he wake up on the wrong side of the bed?

My comments:

To wake up on the wrong side of the bed is believed to be a sign of bad luck, according to ancient superstition.

To literally wake up on the wrong side of the bed is to get out of the bed on the wrong side.

The right side, of course, is the side where you leave your shoes before getting to bed. On the right side, you wake up, slip into your shoes and get on with your day without hitch. Bright and early, say, happy and bubbly.

If you get up on the wrong side of the bed, however, you, first of all, won’t be able to find your shoes. You will instead get your feet or socks soiled while feeling for your shoes on the floor.

And this sometimes makes people angry and upset. When they eventually find their shoes on the other side of the bed, they begin to wonder why this has this happened.

Because they are stupid and forgetful, that’s why.

I’m joking, but you can understand their frustration.

And they also wonder what this may portend for the rest of the day.

Not good, for sure.

And if something undesirable does occur during the day, they readily blame it on this – getting up on the wrong side of the bed.

In our example, the speaker surmises just like that. The speaker sees that “he” is grumpy, angry and irritable, and wonders why. The speaker wonders, figuratively speaking, whether he has got up on the wrong side of the bed.

In other words, they wonder why he’s angry and irritable for no apparent reason.

All understandable?

I think so.

All right and no more ado. Let’s read a few media examples of people waking up on the wrong side of the bed, meaning they’ve started their day on the wrong foot, so to speak:

1. Outspoken Piers Morgan has slammed Justin Bieber for his on-stage “tantrums” after it was reported that the Canadian singer stormed off stage in Manchester, where he was performing a show for his Purpose world tour.

The controversial journalist, who is well-practiced in the art of ruffling feathers, described the incident, in which Justin criticised fans for screaming and exited the stage, as “a gigantic, ego-fuelled, cocky, diva tantrum of epic proportions.”

Seemingly waking up on the wrong side of the bed before penning his op-ed piece for Mail Online, Piers wrote: “Hey Justin, if you want to prove how grown you are now, stop acting like a spoilt little kid, sing more and preach less.”

Justin is no stranger to being at the centre of controversy, but he perhaps didn’t expect the public backlash he faced over his apparent attitude at his most recent show, which completely divided his fans.

Some Beliebers lambasted him for his ego and accused him of being rude, while others criticised the crowd for booing him off the stage – but it should come as no surprise which side of the fence Piers is sitting on.

- Piers Morgan slams Justin Bieber: ‘Stop acting like a spoilt little kid’, UK.News.Yahoo.com, October 25, 2016.

2. Ah, the audacity of icons. When one thinks of Orson Welles, images of Citizen Kane and revolutionary cinematic techniques might flood the mind. However, an uncovering 30 years after his death added another facet to this illustrious figure: a penchant for candid, sometimes comically brutal, critiques of his peers.

Hidden away for decades and only discovered in 2013 were tapes capturing particularly intimate conversations between Welles and his friend, director Henry Jaglom, which dated from 1983 up to Welles’ untimely end in 1985. Handed over to acclaimed film journalist and critic Peter Biskind, a few highlights from the several years of chatting emerge from the recordings. In these conversations, Welles, ever the critic, spares few in his wide-ranging observations, from politics to shamelessly disparaging comments on fellow film giants.

Welles wasn’t exactly renowned for his soft words or gentle comments when it came to describing the industry around him. In fact, his notorious reputation for having a loud mouth ultimately saw him exiled from Hollywood. For ten years, the actor/director moved around Europe, supplementing his income with acting gigs and putting all of his earnings into self-financed film projects – some of which would never see the light of day.

It was only in 1958, with Touch of Evil, that Welles returned to the American studio system and was welcomed back by the industry. However, when we glimpse how he spoke about his peers… well, it’s actually hard to blame them for blacklisting the man.

The pièce de résistance? Welles boldly branded an actor “stupid”. And not just any actor, but Laurence Olivier. For those needing a refresher, Olivier was a veritable titan of both stage and screen, the very embodiment of theatrical brilliance, with performances that are still considered today to be the finest contributions to acting on film and the stage. His monumental legacy in British and American cinema is unparalleled, and his interpretations of Shakespearean characters remain the gold standard for actors worldwide.

Yet, Welles wasn’t content with just a passing jibe. He took specific aim at Olivier’s scenes in King Lear on the BBC, likening them to “the worst things I ever saw in my life”. Given the impeccable reputation of Olivier, one might wonder if Welles had woken up on the wrong side of the bed that morning – or, as an actor himself, if there wasn’t a light touch of jealousy at play.

These tapes, originally intended to provide material for a Welles autobiography, now serve as a delightfully eyebrow-raising peek into the candid views of a cinematic maestro. The sheer candidness of Welles’ opinions, especially about the crème de la crème of Hollywood, only further fuels his legacy: a great artist, a fiery visionary, and a hilariously spiteful and borderline-bitchy man.

- The iconic actor Orson Welles called “stupid”, FarOutMagazine.co.uk, August 21, 2023.

3. When President Donald Trump told parents last year to buy their kids only two dolls instead of 30, an executive at Miami-based doll maker JC Toys printed the quote out on his desk.

Trump’s comments were a poke in the eye in an already tough 2025 for a toy industry still struggling to contend with a 145 percent tariff on China, where a vast majority of them manufacture toys.

As toy makers gathered here last weekend for the International Toy Fair, they expressed cautious optimism that 2026 is going to bode better for their industry than last year. While overall sales ticked up in 2025 by 6 percent, some smaller companies could not ride out the increased tariffs, according to the National Toy Association CEO Greg Ahearn.

They’re still on edge that the president, who told Americans to buy fewer of their products last year, could quickly reignite that firestorm by raising tariffs on China again. Richard Wieczorek, the vice president of JC Toys, said his company may be comfortable now, but, “three weeks from today, it could be a different story.”

Jay Foreman, the CEO of Basic Fun!, which produces high-profile toys like Care Bears, Littlest Pet Shop and Lincoln Logs, expressed some optimism about 2026, but said one of the toy industry’s biggest unknowns is the top resident of the White House.

“The only factor that my colleagues in the industry are all worried about is the volatility of the president and members of his administration,” Foreman said. “Any day Mr. Trump could wake up on the wrong side of the bed and pull the rug out from under the current trade relationships. It’s really challenging to plan for the year under these conditions. I feel like there is a sword on a string dangling over my business and have for over a year.”

- Toy makers optimistic Trump’s ‘low-key war on toys’ is over, Politico.com, February 19, 2026.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：张欣）