足が地に付かない

Do you know what this means in English? I was studying japanese idioms using the kanji for leg and came across this idiom which reminded me of my recent lesson about daydreaming (空想する). This idiom literally means that your feet don't touch the ground. It has two meanings, one positive and the other negative.

The positive meaning in English is:

I'm walking on air.

It means that you are so happy you are floating above the ground. 

You might also hear someone say:

I'm on cloud nine.

Which has the same meaning.

A: Hey why's Ted so happy?

B: He's walking on air because Jen said yes when he proposed!

A: No wonder, he's on cloud nine!

The structure is the verb to be + walking on air/on cloud nine. 

The negative meaning is where you say someone's thinking is not based on reality. In English we'd say:

He's living in a fantasy world!

This means that he is fooling himself into believing a fantasy.

A: Did you hear Kelly took Dylan back?

B: What!?! After he cheated on her three times?!

A: Yeah, Dylan apologized and said he wouldn't do it again.

B: Kelly's living in a fantasy world if she thinks he won't cheat again...

Have a nice week,

Phil