In his oils

[jennymac]

Can someone please tell me where the phrase he is in his oils come from. I have tried googling phrases but have come up empty.

Thanks

[heathfield]

Straightforward explanation is that it refers to an artists paintings. E,g. ''....the sense of colour and design evident in his oils and watercolours.''

[Leo-Ireland]

There's a similar phrase, 'in his cups', which means he's had a drink too many.
I've never heard 'in his oils' before.

[jennymac]

When we say he is in his oils it means something along the lines of - if a person liked music and cinema and they either bought or stayed in a house with all the built in surround sound, huge television, gaming chair to sit in he would be in his oils. It basically means if you like something and then you find yourself surrounded by it you would be like a pig in s**t (Excuse the expression) It is just , how on earth can you connect that with oils.

[reeference]

This is, it seems, a Welsh expression. As a native of Wales, living in New York, with a son visiting from Texas, my husband happened to use the phrase "he'll be in his oils" referring to a fellow Texan. Not knowing where he had heard this first, (and thinking it had something to do with the Clampetts) I googled it. Actually, I used the phrase "in one's oils' (because I'm posh now!) which returned this explanation (one of only 8 results, and the most plausible)
"In his oils - Listed and explained in the Talk Tidy glossary [by John Edwards] but I omitted to show its Welsh origin for 'in his element'. The original Welsh expression is 'Yn ei hwyliau' which, via mutations like 'in his hwyls' became finally 'in his oils'."

[jennymac]

thanks reeference. But I tried again googling but could not find the site you must have been looking at. If it is not too much trouble could you post it for me. And sorry I was not posh but I am living in Greece now so maybe I can get posher too. Do you miss Wales? this is only my second year so it is early days for me but whenever I go home and I see the sign Croeso y Cymru my heart leaps and I feel emotional.

[reeference]

http://newsarch.rootsweb.com/th/read/GLAMORGAN /2002-05/1021242689

See if this works for you. After 30+ years of living on this side of the Atlantic, Wales is still my home, and always will be (not posh really!)

The google search I did was "in one's oils"