Raining Cats and Dogs
“Raining cats and dogs “, a British term meaning ‘An exceptionally heavy downpour of rain.’” English Idiom Dictionary
Have you ever seen it “raining cats and dogs”? I wonder if the rain brings down all little cats and dogs or if it rains big dogs and little cats, which could be rather mean or big cats and little dogs which is not as mean but scary like a science fiction version of All Creatures Great and Small.
One writer says “raining cats and dogs” is a 1600s idiom which originally said, “It shall rain…..dogs and polecats”. That would mean small dogs and large cats. Wouldn’t it?
My favorite story is the one that says that hundreds of years ago, houses had rooftops made of thatch. Imagine a house with a roof made of haystacks. Supposedly even small bugs and animals like mice and beetles and spiders lived in the thatch. Makes sense.
Folks down below in the house all had canopies over their beds to catch the dropping insects and mice when they were rained on and they ran down below. Imagine waking up with spiders and mice and beetles racing to group safety – on your sleeping head.
But it would be interesting. Would the lady or the man of the house shriek, “Help. It’s raining mice!” Or does the saying “raining cats and dogs” mean that cats chased the mice into the thatched roofs and dogs chased the cats and they all fell down together?
And if mice and cats and dogs were all up there together, is it true that when they would all come down together, they would fall through a gigantic hole in the haystack/thatch roof and then the rain would come down with them? Just thinking.
One thing I know for sure. Those days when the rain chases us indoors, or the summer rain is so welcome that city families adjoin to fire escapes to breathe in the cool fragrant air, rain is an embrace and a kiss on our upturned faces.
Meditation for the Day
Earth’s smell after a rain and the aroma of plants is more fragrant than the most precious perfumes. Anon.
Action for the Day
Today, if it rains, I’ll let it rain and be happy. Most of all, I will, with one deep breath of rain-tinged air, find peace and poetry in my heart.
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