Meaning & Analysis
The phrase means someone got up in the morning with their backside in the air—an unusual or awkward image, often interpreted as a sign of good or bad luck depending on context.
Insights
Sudden Good Fortune
In some usages, this proverb suggests that a person has stumbled into success or good luck unexpectedly, almost as if by absurd or undignified means.
Comically Awkward Beginnings
It can also imply that someone started their day or a task in a disordered or awkward way, possibly leading to an unpredictable outcome.
Inversion of Expectations
Highlights the paradox that fortune or success may come even from an undignified or chaotic start—undermining the expectation that good outcomes require noble beginnings.
Folk Belief in Lucky Omens
The idea that rising with one’s 'rump upward' could be a sign of good luck reflects a broader folk belief in bodily omens and the superstitious interpretation of daily rituals like waking or posture.
Humor and Bodily Inversion
The proverb plays humorously on the indignity of bodily orientation—elevating the absurd as a vehicle for commentary on how fortune operates without regard to dignity or planning.
Ambiguity in Fortune
The dual use of this phrase—to signal both comic misfortune and serendipitous success—captures the ambiguous nature of luck in folk culture, where signs are often contradictory.
Rhetorical Devices
Euphemism and Wordplay
The use of 'ass' (or 'arse') functions as a humorous euphemism and plays on the double meaning—bodily part and foolishness—enhancing the comic tone.
Visual Irony
The mental image of rising 'with one’s ass upward' conjures a physical absurdity that reflects broader social ironies—how undignified circumstances can lead to surprisingly favorable results.
Colloquial Expression
The informal and earthy tone aligns with oral tradition and folk humor, making the proverb accessible, memorable, and inherently comedic.
Transcription
Quotations
This man this daye rose with his arse vpwards.
To come off well, and prove lucky in any undertaking, to have risen with ones rump upward.
Some Women jestingly in England, when ask'd how they do, answer, As my Mother did with my —— upwards.
*A sign of good luck.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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