12/24/2023 0 Comments In cloud nine meaningSo if you were on cloud nine you were at the very peak of existence. Level Nine was the very highest cumulonimbus, which can reach 30,000 or 40,000 feet and appear as glorious white mountains in the sky. The story is that this organisation describes (or once described) clouds by an arithmetic sequence. These discrepancies make me suspect the usual explanation of its origin, which is that it comes from the US Weather Bureau. It’s been around since the 1930s, though early examples show a lot of numerical variability, with the cloud sometimes being as low as number seven or eight or as high as thirty-nine, though seven and nine were most common. But that wasn’t the origin of the phrase. It’s said to have been popularised by the Johnny Dollar radio show of that period, in which every time the hero was knocked unconscious he was transported to Cloud Nine. The phrase to be on cloud nine, meaning that one was blissfully happy, started life in the United States and has been widely known there since the 1950s it’s since spread worldwide. That has probably been influenced by the use of 'cloud nine' in popular music - George Harrison adopted the term as the title of his 1987 album and, more notably, The Temptations' 'psychedelic soul' album of the same name, in 1969.Being on “Cloud 9” means you are super happy. Since the 1980s or so, 'cloud nine' has become predominant. This early preference for seven as the significant number may have been influenced by the existing phrase 'seventh heaven'. The lyrics could be interpreted to be about drugs, which would go against The Temptations clean-cut image. However, later that week he was floating on cloud nine after finally receiving a job offer. He began wondering if he would ever find work. He’s applied everywhere in town, but nobody has hired him yet. ![]() Example: Will has been searching hard for a job. Many people did not think this was The Temptations when they heard it. Meaning: The phrase on cloud nine is an idiom that means a person is feeling happy or delighted. The early favourite was 'cloud seven' and many of the oldest citations use that form, as in this piece from The Dictionary of American Slang, 1960, which was the first printed definition of the term "Cloud seven - completely happy, perfectly satisfied in a euphoric state." It was a kind of psychedelic funk similar to Sly & the Family Stone, rather than the smooth Soul they were known for. Notes: This formerly had the connotation of drug usage. "That stuff is way up on Cloud Thirty-nine." Definition: Extremely happy For example: Cindy was on cloud nine after her boyfriend proposed to her. 'Cloud nine' comes a little later, for example, in The Oxnard Press-Courier, August 1946: "I think he has thought of everything, unless the authorities pull something new on him out of cloud nine."Īround the same period we find clouds seven and thirty-nine, in The San Mateo Times, April 1952 and Ross’s Hustlers, 1956, respectively: "Mantovani's skilled use of reeds and strings puts this disc way up on Cloud Seven." The early references all come from mid 20th century USA and the earliest that I've found is in Albin Pollock's directory of slang, The Underworld Speaks, 1935: "Cloud eight, befuddled on account of drinking too much liquor." The imagery was originally of a 'cloud cuckoo land' or 'head in the clouds' dreaminess, induced by either intoxication or inspiration, rather than the 'idyllic happiness' that we now associate with the phrase. It seems that it is the clouds themselves, rather than the number of them, that were in the thoughts of those who coined this phrase. Early examples of 'cloud' expressions include clouds seven, eight, nine and even thirty-nine. Also, the fact that nine is far from the only number that has been linked with clouds, argues against those origins. It is used to describe the high that comes from something that makes one thrilled, ecstatic, or delighted. Cloud 9 definition is a feeling of extreme happiness and excitement. ![]() To single out the last but one stage of either is rather like attributing the source of the 'whole nine yards' to American Football, where it is ten yards rather than nine that is a significant measure. Cloud 9 is a state of euphoria or intoxication. To begin with, both the cloud classifications and the Buddhist stages to enlightenment have ten levels. Neither of these explanations holds water. Another explanation is that the phrase derives from Buddhism and that Cloud Nine is one of the stages of the progress to enlightenment of a Bodhisattva (one destined to become a Buddha). A commonly heard explanation is that the expression originated as one of the classifications of cloud which were defined by the US Weather Bureau in the 1950s, in which 'Cloud Nine' denotes the fluffy cumulonimbus type that are considered so attractive. Whenever a phrase includes a number, like the whole nine yards, at sixes and sevens etc., then attempts to find its derivation usually focus on the number.
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