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#2 (permalink) Mon Jul 12, 2004 17:23 pm Raining cats and gods in leipzig or in london? |
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Hi Naufragis,
You've asked a good question. I think there are various explanations and maybe Alan or Bruce will relate theirs too. As far as I know your weather idiom refers to the time when sailors would believe that cats and dogs had influence over storms and would bring in rain. There is probably more to that... _________________ Test Of English for International Communication TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary |
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Torsten Learning Coach

Joined: 25 Sep 2003 Posts: 9929 Location: EU
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#3 (permalink) Mon Jul 12, 2004 17:34 pm It's raining cats and dogs |
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hi torsten,
I'm curious about to know ... I long for better times. |
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Naufragis You can meet me at english-test.net

Joined: 30 Jun 2004 Posts: 92 Location: Leipzig
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#4 (permalink) Wed Oct 14, 2009 22:29 pm It's raining cats and dogs |
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| It hadn't rained cats and dogs here. Alas! |
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Gkukreti I'm new here and I like it ;-)

Joined: 13 Oct 2009 Posts: 34 Location: Doon Valley, India
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#5 (permalink) Thu Oct 15, 2009 1:28 am It's raining cats and dogs |
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| When someone says that old saying here, its common that the other person will say back as a joke "I know, I just stepped in a poodle!" |
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Erik You can meet me at english-test.net
Joined: 08 Oct 2009 Posts: 65
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#6 (permalink) Thu Oct 15, 2009 1:29 am It's raining cats and dogs |
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| A pun, poodle/puddle. |
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Erik You can meet me at english-test.net
Joined: 08 Oct 2009 Posts: 65
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#7 (permalink) Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:44 am It's raining cats and dogs |
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| I don't know the derivation of the saying that it's raining cats and dogs, but the current usage/meaning is that it's raining or storming VERY hard. |
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Jim Jim I'm new here and I like it ;-)
Joined: 15 Oct 2009 Posts: 42
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#8 (permalink) Thu Oct 15, 2009 4:16 am It's raining cats and dogs |
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HERE'S one supposition:
'...as to cats and dogs, we're going to rely a little on another writer, Christine Ammer, who has produced a marvelous book called, fortuitously, "It's Raining Cats and Dogs and Other Beastly Expressions" (Paragon, 1988). The first verified use of "raining cats and dogs" was in 1738 by Jonathan Swift (of "Gulliver's Travels" fame), though there were earlier versions of the phrase.
Why would cats and dogs be a metaphor for a heavy downpour? According to Ms. Ammer, it may have been because in Northern European myths the cat stood for rain and the dog for wind. Or perhaps the clamor of a full-tilt thunderstorm reminded someone of the sound of cats and dogs fighting.
It's also possible that the phrase is a grisly reference to the fact that, as Ms. Ammer puts it, "In 17th century Britain, after a cloudburst the gutters would overflow with a filthy torrent that included dead animals...." That's a bit too grim for my taste, so I'm going to stick with the bit about cats and dogs symbolizing wind and rain.' _________________ Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's |
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Mister Micawber Language Coach

Joined: 17 Jul 2005 Posts: 7308 Location: Yokohama, Japan
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#9 (permalink) Thu Oct 15, 2009 15:39 pm It's raining cats and dogs |
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| This idiom is used by cockney accent. This accent can be found in east of London. I had spent a few months in the area of cockney, I had gained much experiences there. BTW.. there are a bunch of other idioms what cockney accent commonly use such as apples & pears which means stairs. Well I consider this accent to be extremely difficult to understand. as it's typical of the whole british area especially north UK. |
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Take_It_Easy I'm new here and I like it ;-)
Joined: 07 Oct 2009 Posts: 22
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#10 (permalink) Thu Oct 15, 2009 17:51 pm It's raining cats and dogs |
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Its even more difficult when, typically, the word that actually rhymes with the definition is removed. For example "Loaf of Bread" = "Head", but this is shortened to "Loaf" = "Head" .
Signed, a "Septic" |
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Erik You can meet me at english-test.net
Joined: 08 Oct 2009 Posts: 65
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#11 (permalink) Fri Oct 16, 2009 10:58 am It's raining cats and dogs |
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I heard about''belong with'' from my favorite song''YOU BELONG WITH ME'' OF TAYLOR SWIFT but I wonder if there was a difference between it and ''belong to''  |
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Bupbems New Member
Joined: 16 Oct 2009 Posts: 3
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| Capital word: Opposites attract. vs opposites attract. | Which is correct "judged largely" or "largely judged"? |