Literal translation
He got up from the left foot.
Meaning
he got up on the wrong side of the bed
Explanation
This expression, identical to its French and English equivalent, blames a person's morning bad mood on which foot they set down first upon rising: the pèd gauche, the left foot, has long carried a negative connotation in folk culture, inherited from a tradition that associated the left side with clumsiness, misfortune, even bad luck, as opposed to the right, deemed favourable. Getting up dóu pèd gauche is thus symbolically starting the day on the wrong side, under an unfavourable sign, which was thought sufficient to explain a poor disposition for the rest of the day. The expression stems from an old superstition, used today without any real belief in it, but it keeps its full force in ordinary use to describe someone sullen or irritable from the morning onward. It is said in ordinary, familiar register, often to excuse or explain, with a touch of humour, a loved one's difficult mood.