Figuratively Speaking
It’s been a gray, wet few days around here, and in honor of the rainfall, today’s Figuratively Speaking takes a dip.
When it rains it pours, they say. That comes from the poetic meaning of the word, which is to fall in large or overwhelming quantities.
“Overwhelming quantities” says it all.
As a transitive verb, you can “rain” something on someone else … that is, send a large quantity of something to another person or place. She rained words of anger on the staff for their careless actions.
While in these cases, rain means a lot, in other cases, it can mean a lack … as in getting a raincheck for an out-of-stock item. This coupon, or raincheck, derives from the ticket given at baseball games that are rained out, entitling the fan to return when the game resumes.
Sometimes, evil-minded people can ruin someone’s plans … or, can destroy the joy of an event. When that happens, you can say he’s rained on their parade.
Jonathan Swift is credited with first using the phrase raining cats and dogs in 1738, though it was also used as raining dogs and polecats by Richard Brome.
So under cloudy skies and a light drizzle, it’s a time to give thanks for the rainfall we needed so desperately, the water that has ended the reign of the drought for now.
