Zeller Cellar Word Fun #1

Let’s peek into this box labeled Famous Phrases and see what we pull out.

“It’s raining cats and dogs.”

Usually that means it’s pouring down rain really hard, but where did that saying come from? Wow! It turns out, this is a very old saying. I used to think it came about when people lived under thatched roofs, but I was wrong!!

The first recorded use of a phrase similar to “raining cats and dogs” was in the 1651 collection of poems by Henry Vaughan. He referred to a roof that was secure against “dogs and cats rained in shower.” One year later, Richard Brome, an English playwright, wrote in his comedy City Witt, “It shall rain dogs and polecats.” (Polecats are related to the weasel and were common in Great Britain through the end of the nineteenth century.)

In 1738, Jonathan Swift published his “Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation,” a satire (mockery) on the conversations of the upper classes. One of his characters fears that it will “rain cats and dogs.” This was likely the beginning of the phrase’s popularity.

A false theory stated that cats and dogs used to cuddle into thatch roofs during storms and then be washed out during heavy rains. However, a properly maintained thatch roof is naturally water resistant and slanted to allow water to run off. In order to slip off the roof, the animals would have to be lying on the outside—an unlikely place for an animal to seek shelter during a storm.

(From Everyday Mysteries, Fun Science Facts from the Library of Congress on-line website)

Fun things to do

• Read about polecats.
• Where do they live?
• Draw or paint a polecat
• Write a poem or a song about a polecat
• Read about Jonathan Swift. What is his best known writing? Hint: it’s been around for almost
  300 years!!!!
• Do you think that Jonathan Swift wore a wig or was that his real hair? See if you can find out.