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Raining 'CATS' and 'DOGS' - etymology
Jan. 29th, 2026 11:46 pmIn English we use an idiom 'IT RAINS CATS AND DOGS' about a heavy rain and storm. And, although NO dogs or cats EVER fell from the clouds instead of raindrops, one imagines exactly these animals falling from above:
Some even create discussion of the topic at BBC, and propose the answers like as follows: "Peasants used to live in tiny hovels with thatched straw roofs. Their cats and dogs would live outside and often climbed onto the roof to bed down for the night, presumably warmed by the heat from the fires inside the hovels. When there was very heavy rain falling, the straw would become very slippery and the animals often fell to the ground!" http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/weather/2003/02/28/raining.shtml
Imagine this... :)
The British scholars, in their turn, attribute this expression to J.Swift, 1710, as it is first found in a text by him.[1] Yet, a similar phrase was recorded already in 1653 ("It shall raine... Dogs and Polecats").[2]
It does not mean, however, that this expression did not exist before then. And very likely it derived from something closer to real rain, shower and storm:
( Read more... )
Some even create discussion of the topic at BBC, and propose the answers like as follows: "Peasants used to live in tiny hovels with thatched straw roofs. Their cats and dogs would live outside and often climbed onto the roof to bed down for the night, presumably warmed by the heat from the fires inside the hovels. When there was very heavy rain falling, the straw would become very slippery and the animals often fell to the ground!" http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/weather/2003/02/28/raining.shtml
Imagine this... :)
The British scholars, in their turn, attribute this expression to J.Swift, 1710, as it is first found in a text by him.[1] Yet, a similar phrase was recorded already in 1653 ("It shall raine... Dogs and Polecats").[2]
It does not mean, however, that this expression did not exist before then. And very likely it derived from something closer to real rain, shower and storm:
( Read more... )
