I should have stood in bed
I should not have bothered doing this because it wasn't worth the time or effort. The phrase, a pun on "I should have stayed in bed," is attributed to Joe Jacobs, who was quoted as saying it after attending a baseball game. Primarily heard in US. We got trounced at our football game this morning—I should've just stood in bed. A: "So, what did you think of the opera, Dad?" B: "Eh, waste of a Sunday if you ask me. I should have stood in bed." Geez, I should have stood in bed—it's just been one problem after another today!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
should have stood in bed, I
I've had such a bad day that I should never have gotten up at all. For example, And then I got rear-ended at the stop sign-I should have stood in bed. This ungrammatical colloquial phrase-properly put as stayed in bed-is ascribed to fight manager Joe Jacobs, who in 1935 saw his first baseball game, the opening game of the World Series between the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs. It was a very cold day, and when asked what he thought of baseball, Jacobs replied, "I should have stood in bed."
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.