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Archive for the 'Expressions about Rain' Category

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Rain, Rain, What do “you” say?

A Nursery Rhyme, a Children’s Song and a Poem about the Rain

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Rain, Rain, What do “you” say?

Thursday, July 13th, 2006

Rain must hold a special place deep in the human psyche. Expressions about rain have such interesting imagery. I can’t think of many words that evoke such vivid images.

For instance, in English, if it’s pouring out, you can say, It’s raining cats and dogs. If there’s thunder, some people say God is bowling. At least that’s said to little kids.

You can also say, It’s raining buckets. That’s interesting because in French, there’s the same expression, Il pleut à seaux.*

The French also have the saying, Il pleut comme vache qui pisse. In English, that’s… It’s raining like a cow that’s pissing.

More politely, the French would say, Il tombe des cordes. That expression is literally, It’s falling ropes, or we’d say, Ropes are falling.

There are also expressions for more violent rain. In Spanish there’s, Caen chuzos de punto. Which means, Spears are falling point first. Similarly, in French there’s, Il tombe des hallebardes. That means, Halberds are falling. A halberd is a weapon that was used during the 14th and 15th centuries. It has a spiky axe on the end of a pole. You can see halberds in the image below. They sort of look like falling rain.

Finally, in Occitan (a language spoken in parts of southern France, Spain and Italy) they say, Tomba de rabanelas. That means, Wild radishes are falling. They also say, Tomba de pèiras de molin – Mill stones are falling.

Feel free to comment below about expressions concerning rain that are said in cultures you’re familiar with.

Many thanks to Monique of Mama Lisa’s World en français for telling me about some of the expressions about rain in French, Spanish and Occitan.

Lisa

Come visit the blog category about rain for some songs and rhymes about rain.

*UPDATE ABOUT “RAINING BUCKETS”:

Monique later wrote me…

Spaniards also say, “Llueve a cántaros” to say “it’s raining buckets”. It literally means the same thing. Portuguese have the same expression about buckets, “Está a chover a cântaros” = it’s raining buckets. Italians have “piove a catinelle”, which means “it’s raining basins/bowls”.

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Posted in Countries & Cultures, English, Expressions about Rain, France, French, Great Britain, Languages, Occitan, Occitan, Rain, Spain, Spanish, USA, Weather, Words & Phrases | No Comments »

A Nursery Rhyme, a Children’s Song and a Poem about the Rain

Saturday, October 15th, 2005

Today the sun is finally shining here in New York! Hurray! But, the rain and flooding made me lose my internet connection for the past 24+ hours (the horror!!!) so here’s yesterday’s posting…

Friday, October 14, 2005

It’s raining for the seventh day here in New York. A couple of days ago, it was a bit warmer. My daughter couldn’t wait to use her Sesame Street umbrella. So I let her go out back with my son and just play in the rain. It was a nice moment, and it reminded me of my own childhood, splashing through puddles.

So, here’s a very popular rain song from when I was a child in the seventies. It’s still sung by children today…

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Rain, rain, go away,
Come again some other day

Nowadays I’ll add…

Lila and Mommy want to play,
So come again some other day.

Here’s a funny poem about rain that I found…

The Rain

The rain it raineth every day,
Upon the just and unjust fella,
But more upon the just, because
The unjust hath the just’s umbrella

Here’s one last one, an amusing Mother Goose nursery rhyme…

Doctor Foster went to Gloucester*

Doctor Foster went to Gloucester
In a shower of rain,
He stepped in a puddle,
Right up to his middle,
And never went there again.

*Gloucester is pronounced as “gloster” and rhymes with Foster.

Hope all you readers out there are staying dry, or even better, that you have nice weather!

If anyone would like to send me a poem, rhyme or song about the rain. I’d be happy to post it here. Please email me.

Come visit Mama Lisa’s House of Nursery Rhymes for more Mother Goose Rhymes about the rain.

I, personally, will be looking for songs and rhymes about the sun!

-Lisa

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Posted in American Kids Songs, Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Doctor Foster Went to Gloucester, English, English Nursery Rhymes, Expressions about Rain, Great Britain, Languages, Mama Lisa, Nursery Rhymes, Nursery Rhymes about the Rain, Nursery Rhymes about the Weather, Poetry, Rain, Rain, Rain, Go Away, Rhymes by Theme, Songs About the Rain, Songs by Theme, USA, Weather, Weather, Words & Phrases | No Comments »

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