In the Europe 1 program "Historically yours", Stéphane Bern examines the roots of an expression of everyday life.
Thursday, he is interested in the origins of being "woozy", a phrase that comes directly from the Italian language and a currency of little value used on the island of Malta.
Stéphane Bern offers every day, in
Historically yours
with Matthieu Noël, to discover these expressions that we use on a daily basis without necessarily knowing their origin.
Thursday, the host explains the roots of the slightly sickly tired expression "being woozy".
To be woozy is to feel a little sick, not at ease, you are hatching something… Contrary to certain beliefs, "woozy" has never been written in two words ("not stalking"), and its origin is much simpler: this word is a pure and simple translation from Italian.
We said among our neighbors "patacca", which actually meant a currency used in Malta and which was of no great value.
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Old dilapidated watches and clocks
It was from the 17th century that the expression "being patraque" began to be used in France.
We also say "a woozy" to designate an old machine that works badly, a badly ruined machine.
This word was used in particular for old watches and dilapidated clocks.
And it is true that, when we are woozy, the machine seizes up and nobody can count on us any longer.
Note that today, rather than feeling woozy, we say in Spain "estar como una patata": we feel like a potato. This is not very glamorous. In England, the equivalent is "to be off color", or "no longer having color". In short, we are a little palot. Whereas in the United States, it is "to be running out of steam", lack of steam. It's time to put some logs back in the fireplace. Let's get back to the ground with Francis Blanche who said "When you're healthy, it's okay to be sick."