Oops...Spoke too soon

Remember my post on "Dog days are here"? Well, I thought that the rains have gone away but Mother Nature decided otherwise. Right after my post, we had thunderstorms with the full works - roaring thunder and spears of lightning piercing the dark skies.

Now, I don't know about you, but I am a scaredy dog when it comes to thunderstorms. But, I put up a brave front this time round - all in the name of research. If you've been following my blog, you will know that I have started a "Dog Series" this year where I would post on words and phrases that contains the word "Dog" or as in Mama's last post, the word "Puppy". Now, generally, I do most of my research on the good ol' internet, but for this particular "Dog" post, I needed to do physcial research, just like a real scientist. So, each time we had a thunderstorm, which Mother Nature happily obliged over the last week or so, I would rush to the door and start observing real intensely.
I looked, and looked real closely but all I saw was big fat drops of water falling down and turning our garden into pools of mud.

Not a drop of dog or cat in sight! Bah, ...so much for the phrase "Raining cats and dogs". There wasn't even a tail of a kitten or a puppy to be seen! All there was was water, water everywhere, and not a dog in sight! So, what is the origin of this phrase "Raining cats and dogs" (which by the way means raining very heavily)? Well, it's time to go back to internet research. The phrase's origin is unknown, although several theories abound. I'll leave it to you to be the judge on how likely these are:

1)Back in old London, when they had straw roofs, cats and dogs would hide in the roofs when it rained. Because it was slippery, some poor unfortunate cat or dog or both would slip and fall through the flimsy roof! (Hmm...I'm trying to imagine if my beagle ancestor would have actually climbed up a roof....)

2)There is a myth that dogs and wolves were attendants to Odin, the god of storms, and sailors associated them with rain. Witches, who often took the form of cats, are supposed to have ridden the wind. (OK, double pinch of salt required here)

3)This last one is pretty gross. Back in old England again, people supposedly threw dead dogs and cats in the gutter or the alleyway. When a strong rain comes and floods the alleyways, these carcasses would be floating down the streets of England (Yuckity Yuck!)

If you ask me, the English language is full of strange idioms and phrases, many without rhyme or reason! Perhaps, that's what makes it so interesting. The next time it rains at your place, do take a peek out of your window to see if you see any cats and dogs raining down on you. And if you do see this strange phenomenon, be sure to drop me a note!