Feeling silly
Feeling silly means being in a goofy, giggly mood where you’d rather laugh than be sensible. It can also mean feeling a bit foolish.
What does feeling silly feel like?
Everything is funny, especially things that aren’t: a word that sounds strange once you’ve said it ten times, a dog’s expression, a friend’s terrible impression of your boss. Silliness spreads. It’s at its best late in the evening with people you trust, when nobody is keeping score.
Silly has a second sense too: feeling foolish, after asking a question everyone else seemed to know, or turning up a day early for a party. That sense is closer to embarrassed than to playful.
Silly or playful?
Playful is the wider mood: you want fun, so you tease, invent a game or make a face. It can be quiet and clever, a raised eyebrow or a pun. Silly is the loudest corner of playful, where the fun is in being ridiculous: nonsense voices, dancing in the kitchen and laughter you can’t stop.
In a sentence
- “The kids got silly after too much cake.”
- “We were feeling silly and made up a song about the cat.”
- “I felt silly for worrying about it all week.”
Where it sits on the wheel
Silly is in the outer ring, under Joyful › Playful.
A gentle prompt
What made you laugh recently? Write it down, so you can laugh again later.
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Something to go with it
A small screen-free idea, if you’d like to spend this mood on something.
Feelings near silly
Playful (one ring in)
Lighthearted (also under Playful)
Silly is goofy and giggly; lighthearted is simply easy and unworried, and can be quiet.
Free (also under Playful)
Silly is being ridiculous for fun; free is having nothing holding you back.
About the feelings wheel
Silly is one of the 104 words on the Slow Days feelings wheel, and the list of feelings has them all. The wheel isn’t a test or a diagnosis.