Nine-year-old Evie calls from Texas to ask about the origin of the phrase raining cats and dogs. This idiom alludes to the cacophonous nature of a heavy downpour. Around the world, expressions about torrential rain also connote the idea of a noisy affair. In Greece, the equivalent phrase for such a deluge translates as “It’s raining chair legs.” In South Africa, it’s “raining grandmothers with clubs.” In Poland, it’s “raining frogs,” and in Colombia, the phrase is Esta lloviendo hasta maridos, or “It’s even raining husbands.” In previous episodes, we’ve talked about raining pitchforks and hoe handles. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Raining Cats and Dogs Origin”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, my name’s Evie from Texas, and can you please tell me where the phrase,
It’s raining cats and dogs, comes from?
Where the phrase, it’s raining cats and dogs, comes from.
Where did you come across that that made you think about this?
It was a rainy day, and I was watching the rain come down,
And I asked my dad, what does it mean, what does the phrase,
Does raining cats and dogs mean?
And he said he did it now.
Is that something that the two of you say together?
Do you both say it’s raining cats and dogs,
Or did you hear it somewhere else?
I just said it.
Okay.
And Evie, do you have a dog yourself?
Yeah.
He’s more like a bodyguard to me
Because he wants to make sure I’m safe at times.
And what’s your dog’s name, Evie?
Penny like the coin.
Penny like the coin.
That’s nice.
So raining cats and dogs, Martha, what do we know about that?
Well, you’ve never seen cats and dogs falling out of the clouds, have you, Evie?
No.
Yeah, yeah. So that’s what we call a figure of speech. It’s just an imaginary thing.
And the idea of raining cats and dogs just refers to the idea that when the rain is really, really coming down, it’s really noisy and really loud, right?
Yeah.
I mean, if you can imagine cats and dogs all flying down from the clouds, it would get really, really noisy, right?
Barking and howling and meowing and meowing and a little fighting on their way down.
Yeah.
A bit hissing.
Yeah, some hissing for sure.
Yeah.
And the reason that I think it has to do with the noise of rain is because if you look at cultures around the world in different countries,
They also talk about something that’s really noisy, like in Greece, for example.
They don’t say the rain is coming down hard.
They say it’s raining chair legs.
Can you imagine if a bunch of chair legs were coming down out of the sky?
That would be really noisy, too.
Or in South Africa, they say it’s raining grandmothers with clubs.
Right? It’s really crazy.
So like grannies coming down, thumping the ground with clubs.
Yeah, and in Poland, they say it’s raining frogs, which would also be really noisy.
Sure.
And in Colombia, they have a Spanish phrase that goes, it’s raining even husbands.
Or it translates as, it’s raining even husbands.
It’s raining men, hallelujah.
Yeah, so the English version of that is, it’s raining cats and dogs, which is a very, very noisy situation.
Okay.
Does that make sense?
Yeah.
Thank you for calling, Evie.
We really appreciate it.
You’re welcome.
All right, take care.
Thanks, Evie.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
Bye.
So we have to debunk.
Yes, let’s debunk.
The famous email.
Yes.
That floats around.
Oh, my gosh.
That I’ve now been getting for over 20 years.
Yep.
Raining cats and dogs does not come from sodden thatched roofs that had animals on them and
That would fall through when it rained a lot.
Thank you.
Please do not send us that email.
It does not come from that.
It has never come from that.
There’s no evidence.
That’s no, no, it doesn’t.
There’s nobody in the history of studying language that believes that.
Why that email has so much life, I will never know.
It’s because it’s so pat.
It’s too perfect, right?
And it comes around and you think you’ve learned something, but all you’ve learned is lies.
Right.
When have you ever heard of a dog climbing up in a thatched roof to hang out?
But they could, but that’s not the origin.
Right.
It’s not.
Right.
Nor is the Jonathan Swift poem about the same.
Right, which unfortunately talks about.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But that’s actually newer than the expression itself.
Right, right.
But it refers to what’s cacophonous.
Yeah, loud, because cats and dogs are loud.
Think about a time in our society and culture and history of humanity when the loudest thing wasn’t people.
It wasn’t our machines.
Right.
It wasn’t our air conditioning units and our automobiles and our airplanes.
Exactly.
Well, we love hearing from kids.
So if you’re listening and you’re young and you have a question about a word or phrase, we’d love to hear about it.
We’d also love to hear from you no matter what your age is.
So call us 877-929-9673 or send us an email.
That address is words@waywordradio.org.
