I suppose that we have all undergone times when this state of mind would apply to us. Circumstances play tricks on our emotions.

To be ‘in a mood’ means to not be friendly with others because one is angry.  A mood, as an emotional state, has been in the English language since about 1300. It came from the Old English, mod, frame of mind, which was from the Old Norse, mordr.

“Moody” is an early development of this word, meaning angry or quarrelsome. Being in specific types of moods has been in use for hundreds of years. But this connotation is much newer, being only introduced in the 1930s. The earliest known citation using it in this phrase, per se, is on page 11 of Soviet Russia Today, December 1939, where mood is in quotation marks, usually meaning a very recently coined expression.

“We can only conclude that The New Republic was also in a ‘mood’—in a mood, to print diatribes against the Soviet Union…”  

But it took years for accepted use in this fashion. A very good, unmistakably clear example is in First Papers by Laura Z. Hobson, 1964, on page 28:

“Betty and Trudy didn’t have to hear that ‘shush’ all the time. ‘Shush Papa’s sleeping.’ Or, ‘Shush, Papa’s working.’ Or, ‘Shush, Papa’s in a mood.’”

If you have a phrase you would like to see featured here, please text Stan at 931-212-3303 or email him at stan@stclair.net