I am so impressed of your chosen topic and generally of all your chosen themes.i also liked the last statement of your last post taken from mythology.‘i am going to take a rest in the arm of Morpheus’ was an exclusive way to say goodbye.
Thanks a lot for sent posts.
Hello Mr. Townend,
thank you for your interesting essay. I didn´t know, that English language uses so many expressions about dream. It is funny.
I think quality dream is when somebody is sleeping like a log. In Slovak language I could say “sleeping hard” (spať tvrdo) or “sleeping like a killed” (spať ako zabitý), of course I must translation it to my native language.
Many thanks
Peter
Hi Allan
I’m not completely sure about the meaning of “having 40 winks”. Does it mean 40 minutes of a catnap? I did find “not sleep a wink”, meaning not to sleep a bit at all…
I would be glad to get illuminated…
And many thanks for your essays!
Urs
Hi,
‘Forty winks’ doesn’t describe any particular amount of time spent sleeping. It tends to suggest a brief sleep or a catnap.
Alan
Thanks!
Hi everybody,
Allan’s assay is really cool and I enjoyed reading it from top to bottom. However, I felt somewhat surprised when I finished reading the standard expressions used to describe the state of being asleep for I did’t see anything like ‘sleeping like a log’, even when a similar expression like ‘sleep like a top’ is employed. My question then: is it perhaps because that would be British English? Or perhaps old-fashioned, or simply because he missed it?
Hi Luise,
I had to draw the line somewhere but ‘sleep like a log’ is widely used.
Thanks.
Alan
10xx & regards
Milton
Dear Alan,
Where is the time when I used to be a late riser, when I could sleep
-like a log
-like a pig
-like a baby
-like a dead
I could sleep very deeply. I didn’t woke up when there was a thunder storm. I slept through the night. Can I say I was sound sleeper? When I slept, I was dead to the world and I didn’t need for sleeping pills.
Nowadays I woke up every morning at six sharp. I jump out off bed, after washing myself I prepare the breakfast and I begin to learn English uninterruptedly till my husband wakes up.This is a period when nobody disturbs me.
Alan I liked the part of your letter when you spoke about lullabies. As my grandchildren half-American I learned lot of English lullabies. One of my favorite is this:
youtube.com/watch?v=ScScbj-D6bg&feature=fvst
I never heard about “the sandman is coming and drop sand in your eyes” -very cute story.
Neither I heard about journey to Slumberland or the Land of Nod.
(slumber (v)=sleep peacefully or comfortably and if it is a noun can express sleep or the person who sleeps.)
(Land of Nod= sleep; according to my my dictionary)
I knew the cat nap, to doze off, snooze words but I never met “have a little shut eye” expression. Now I know “shut eye” means sleep, nap. For example I can say: It’s time for half an hour’s shut eye.
I very rarely can have a shut eye during the day whereas my husband has to sleep after lunch every day. Than it is customary in mediterranean countries he takes a siesta.
I knew the expression I didn’t sleep a wink or I didn’t have a wink of sleep both means I didn’t sleep at all. But I didn’t know to have 40 winks what means somebody wants a little peace and quiet without disturbance.
We used to have a good friend who was a big gourmet. When he came to see us we made a very good diner for him. He was very grateful and happy. After dinner he always said:
-I think I’ll go to sleep.
But he could have told us:
-If you don’t mind I’ll turn in now.
or
-I think it’s time for me to hit the sack. ( he was a man with very good sense of humour.)
Unfortunately when he wanted to enjoy his retired life he died very unexpectedly.
It is interesting there are people who thinks if they stress their importance they use expressions like that: “I retire for night.”
I like very much your writing about the guests of whom we aren’t get rid off when we are fed up with them. What to do?
-wind up the sitting room clock; look at my watch anxiously or even yawn.
It’s pity that I didn’t read your pieces of advice earlier so I could use them in my life if I hadn’t had inhibitions though I had them unfortunately.
-I could have dropped off or nodded off in the middle of the conversation.
-I could have acted sleepy or drowsy.
And the best:
I could have gone upstairs and come down in my pyjamas.
I can’t finish my letter in land of living ( in this present existence) because the last expression has been omitted.
“-to take my rest in the arm of Morpheus”( go to sleep)
I think Morpheus can be substituted by anybody else in thought but I know this is a collocation.
Best regard:
Kati Svaby
Correction:I think I noticed one mistake. The guests off whom we aren’t rid when we are fed up with them. Which one is good? Please tell me.
Thanks:
Kati S.
" Hi Kati,
…about the guests who we aren’t able to get rid of when we are fed up with them." 
Hello Bz.
Many thanks and regards:
Kati
rESpectd Alan,
i am seeing sleep is really a very essential job for every human.
isnt it?
look at my watch its night noe and iam going to…
Dear sir i don’t know how to explain my problem i can read i can speak but i have problem to write english i alwas
make mistakes when i write English please help me out to, get out of this problem Anita Amadi
Hello Anita,
There is no easy answer - you simply have to practise as much as you can. You need to read as many good examples of English as you can, then use those examples to help you write.
You need to get out of bad habits early, before they become embedded in your mind.
For example, the pronoun ‘I’ is always written as a capital letter.
Writing is phrased in sentences which always begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop or equivalent punctuation mark.
Comare your message with this one:
Dear Sir,
I don’t know how to explain my problem. I can read and I can speak, but I have a problem writing English. I always make mistakes when I write English. Please can you help me out with this problem?
Anita Amadi.
At each age, we require different amount of hours to sleep, babies need 18 hour, while 9 hour should be enough to adolescents and adults get a good rest in 8 hour.
This ‘Lullaby’ by Attila József, the famous Hungarian poet made lot of children go to sleep.
Lullaby.
The sky is letting its blue eyes close;
The house its many eyes closes, too.
The quilted meadow lies in a doze:
Go to sleep softly, little one, do.
The wasp and beetle are both asleep;
Their heads are down on their feet, and through
Darkness, a drone in the dark they keep:
Go to sleep softly, little one, do.
The tram has fallen asleep as well,
And while its rattling slumbers, too.
It tings in its sleep a little bell:
Go to sleep softly, little one, do.
The coat is sleeping across the chair,
The tear is sleeping where it’s worn through;
No more to-day will it stretch the tear:
Go to sleep softly, little one, do.
The ball and whistle are both at rest.
So is the wood where the picnic grew.
Even your sweets by sleep are possessed:
Go to sleep softly, little one, do.
All will be yours in the crystal ball;
You’ll be a giant, it will come true;
But just let your little eyelids fall:
Go to sleep softly, little one, do.
A fireman, soldier, herder of sheep,
You’ll be all three, and each will be you.
See, your mother is falling asleep:
Go to sleep softly, little one, do.
1935
Translated by Vernon Watkins
Hi Alan,
Talking about ‘sleep’.
I used to say if someone sleep without being disturbed at all is ‘sleep like log’.
I am a light sleeper that wakes up at the slightest noise or sound.
Catherine Tan
Hello, I would like to read again the Lullaby.