the.com/rough patch
The euphemism couples deploy right before announcing they're actually fine, probably.
means A stretch of difficulty or hardship in a relationship, job, or life in general — temporary trouble that implies things were smooth before and should be smooth again.
from Literal before figurative: a 'rough patch' was originally an actual stretch of bumpy, uneven ground or rough terrain — something a traveler, rider, or ship might hit along an otherwise decent road or sea. By extension, English speakers borrowed the image for life's bumps: a 'patch' of time that's rough, rather than ground that's rough, with the sense cemented sometime in the 20th century as everyday idiom.
- actual duration
- inversely proportional to how calmly it's mentioned
- common cause
- usually isn't the thing people blame
- relationship status
- often secretly means over already
- recovery sign
- when it stops needing a name