Sleepy

This week's word got me thinking about the topic of sleeping. I find it strange that we have so many ways of saying 'have a siesta' in English when as people we don't often take advantage of a short sleep in the afternoon.

Although 'siesta' is an accepted word in English, I thought that it would be a nice idea to look at some more native ways of expressing this idea.

You may hear people talking about wanting to have / take a nap in the afternoon, especially when they get home from work.

My grandparents always have a nap after lunch.

Similarly some people say that they are going to have a kip. If you hear them saying that they need to get some kip, they are probably very tired and haven't been sleeping well recently.

I must get some kip, I can't go on like this, I'm tired all the time!

Another expression is to 'have/get forty winks':

I usually have forty winks after work before I start making the dinner.

In American English you sometimes hear people saying that they want or need to catch some zzz (zees). This expression comes from the idea that when we draw somebody sleeping we often put some z z z to show that they are snoozing / sleeping.