A heavy, wind-driven rain in England’s West Country is a kelsher. A misty drizzle that makes everything shimmer is a drisk, and a cow-quaker is a cold spring shower in the Midlands that leaves pastured cattle shivering. These are among the many words for rain collected by Alan Connor in his delightful new book 188 Words for Rain: A Delightfully Damp Tour of the British Isles Led by Natural Forces (Amazon). The title teasingly refers to the myth of dozens of Inuit words for “snow.” This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “From “Kelsher” to “Cow-Quaker,” Regional British Words for Rain”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, this show about language and how we use it.
I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette, and Grant, I have three words for you, and I wonder if you can guess what they pertain.
I love you.
No, I don’t know.
What is it?
I love you too, man.
I mean, those are the three words that anyone wants to hear.
What are you three words, Well, I want you to hear the words Kelcher, Drisk and Cow Quaker.
What?
Kelcher, Drisk and Cow Quaker.
Oh, that was my law firm and my…
They got me a good payday.
Sounds like they could.
What are we talking about here?
Are these like farming terms?
Sort of.
No.
You’re in the realm here.
Oh, is this from that article about roofs?
No.
Okay.
I don’t know.
What is it?
It vaguely has to do with thatched roofs.
A kelcher in the West Country of England is a heavy rain brought on by a strong wind.
Okay.
A drisk is a misty drizzle that makes everything seem to shimmer.
Oh, nice.
Isn’t that nice?
And a cow quaker in the Midlands Of England is defined as a cold spring shower that interrupts a mild morning and leaves newly pastured cattle shivering.
Oh, those are outstanding, Martha.
You must have plucked these from a source.
I did.
They’re from a lovely book by Alan Connor.
It’s called 188 Words for Rain, and that title’s a bit tongue in cheek because, as he notes in the book, the claim that the Inuit and Yupic people have a 100 words for snow is misleading.
Oh, yeah.
Absolutely misleading.
I’m looking forward to this.
I do love good weather language because it’s this constant topic of conversation, And we do want to know the subtleties.
We want to do want to be able to mark and describe the intricacies of weather for our colleagues and family, right?
That’s right.
If you can talk about nothing else, you can talk about the weather.
So we’re going to do that later in the show.
Well, you can talk us about your weather words and weather language.
There’s something really special about that toll free number.
A, it’s toll free.
B, it works in The United States and Canada.
And C, you can call or text that number again.
