User:Bruxton/Got the morbs

Got the morbs (1880) is a Victorian era slang or euphemism. The phrase describes a person afflicted with temporary melancholy or sadness. The term was defined in James Redding Ware's 1909 book Passing English of the Victorian Era.

Etymology
Got the morbs originally came from Latin. Morbs is an abstract noun which is derived from the adjective morbid. The word morbid came from the original Latin word morbidus which meant, sickly, diseased or unwholesome. The word also has roots in the latin word morbus, which meant sorrow, grief, and distress of the mind.

History
The term appeared in the book Passing English of the Victorian Era (1909) by James Redding Ware. The book states that the term was from 1880, and was it was defined as an abstract noun which was coined from the adjective morbid.

Got the morbs is a phrase describing a person who is in a state of temporary melancholy. It is Victorian slang which was used to describe sad people. Having the morbs was to be despondent and uninterested in communication or small talk.

Popular culture
In 2015 the Boston, Massachusetts based Indie rock band The Sheila Divine released a full-length album which they titled The Morbs. In Lincoln, Nebraska an all-girl band has named themselves The Morbs. In June 2019 Grant Shimmin, writing for The Timaru Herald, asked if English singer and TV personality Michael Ball has "got the morbs" about the state of Great Britain.