Earlier he did say he had a lot of work to day today, so mentally I was deciphering his words as "I'm going to be very busy today," but I wasn't very sure. I sat in the family room, looking at him, and I guess I looked puzzled, so he then said, "It means 'It's cloudy.'" Now I was intrigued, so I asked him, "Where did you hear that from?"
"My mom. She used to say that quite often when it's a weather like this," he said.
"How about your father? Did he say that too?"
"No."
"So it's your mom then."
I wanted to know if its his mom's idiolect or a set phrase, and before I asked it, he continued on, "Yeah. I don't know where she heard that from." I found this topic quite interesting, so I asked him further about this usage. "The weather is unsettled" is another way of saying it. Some further investigation:
http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/unsettledI also looked out at the sky. Hum.... Windy, cloudy, still bright, some small patches of blue.... (like this:)
http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/unsettled
(More patches of blue just a few moments ago)
