Thursday, January 7, 2010

Why does it 'Rain cats and dogs'? Why not 'Mice and Ant'?


The phrase raining cats and dogs brings us back to the Norse legends, which contended that animals had specific magical powers. In this case, cats were reputed to have the ability to conjure up storms and dogs were symbolic of wind. To Scandinavians, then, raining cats and dogs meant a violent storm with wind and rain, pretty much what it means to us today.

Holt argues that the phrase probably stems from 17th century England, when Jonathan Swift, in Polite Conversation, described the city's gutters as full of debris-including cats and dogs!

as researched by David Feldman

7 comments:

[PaaN1904] said...

i see..~~

izuan said...

so nanti kalau ada murid tanya mana datang "raining cats and dogs" tu, cakapla yang orang England tengok banyak kucing dengan anjing melepak dalam longkang hujan atas bumbung bangunan diorg seolah-olah bukan air yang turun masa hujan tapi kucing dengan anjing. :)

jimah said...

oooooo... siyez bru paham.. x pernah terpk lak.. heee.. taw x meaning sbnr 'bagai melepaskn batuk di tangge?'

izuan said...

ohh.. sebenarnya "melepaskan batok di tangga".. "batok" adalah kata jawa bagi sejenis alat mencedok air diperbuat drpd tempurung. org dulu2 kan basuh kaki sebelum naik ke rumah, dan mereka cedok air guna batok tu. org yang buat kerja tak habis (tak sempurna,ala kadar,nak cepat) macam melepaskan batok di tangga. dah guna tapi tak simpan, nanti nak guna kena kutip balik... hehe.

jimah said...

waw!!!! *clap clap clap* terernyeeer!!! ni mmg bakal cekgu sejati ah neyh... bagos2..

izuan said...

hehehe, cikgu matematik bukan cikgu bahasa. :)

jimah said...

kire cekgu versatile ah.. bm ley, bi ley, math bley.. bagos2!!