Parts of India has experienced some rainfall in the last few days. But no one has ever seen any creature falling from the sky when it’s raining. So why do people tend to say that it’s raining cats and dogs? It is certainly just an idiom but where did it originate from? The reason behind this idiom is a mystery and has many theories associated to it. Let’s try and decode what is all about.

It was first recorded in literature in the 1600s. In 1653, Richard Brome, an English playwright wrote in his comedy City Witt, “It shall rain dogs and polecats.” A while later in 1738, Jonathan Swift published his Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation, a satire on the conversations of the upper classes. One of his characters fears that it will ‘rain cats and dogs’. The segment reads: “I know Sir John will go, though he was sure it would rain cats and dogs.”

Whether Swift coined the phrase or was using a cliché, his satire was likely the beginning of the phrase’s popularity. Swift had a particularly strong influence on language thanks to his popular works Gulliver’s Travels and A Modest Proposal. And some years earlier, he wrote a poem City Shower (1710), that described floods that occurred after heavy rains. The floods left dead animals in the streets and may have led locals to describe the weather as ‘raining cats and dogs’.

Popular Theories Relating to the Idiom

But why ‘cats and dogs’ and no other animal to describe a heavy downpour? There is a list of theories although none are backed by evidence, unfortunately.

  • ‘Cats and dogs’ may come from the Greek expression cata doxa, which means ‘contrary to experience or belief’. If it is raining cats and dogs, it is raining unusually or unbelievably hard.

  • French word for waterfall is ‘catadoupe’ which sounds a little like cats and dogs.

Some have theorised that the natural antipathy between the two animals connects to the severity of a storm. A false theory also stated that cats and dogs used to cuddle into thatch roofs during storms and then be washed out during heavy rains. However, a maintained thatch roof is naturally water-resistant and slanted to allow water to run off. It is an unlikely place for an animal to seek shelter during a storm. Well, we don’t know what likely to be true, but we are happy that monsoons have finally arrived as it is certainly cooled the weather outside.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 02, 2018 11:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).