Idioms Around the World 3
Today I will “show” you some of my favourite idioms for “it’s raining cats and dogs.”
Arabic: Kab Min ‘Ind el Rab - it’s pouring from heaven
sounds beautiful. :)
Afrikaans: Ou vrouens met knopkieries reen - it’s raining old women with knobkerries (clubs) “I googled a bit more and it seems that ‘oudewijven’ is based on legends of old women in heaven, whom performed a variety of tasks: shaking out the bedsheets (and thus causing snow to fall on earth) or baking pancakes (which results in rain while the sun still shines) and so on.
Even more back into time, oudewijven referred to an old woman water spirit, with white hair. I can kind of see how it evolved to the raining thing..”
Chinese(Cantonese): 落狗屎 (lohk gáusí) - dog poo is falling (inf)
Czech: Padají trakaře - it’s raining wheelbarrows
Danish: Det regner skomagerdrenge - it’s raining shoemakers’ apprenticies
Dutch: Het regent pijpestelen - it’s raining pipe stems
Estonian:Sajab nagu oavarrest - it’s raining like from a beanstalk
French: Il pleut des grenouilles / des cordes / des hallebardes / des clous / à seaux / comme vache qui pisse - it’s raining frogs / ropes / halberds / nails / buckets / like a pissing cow
Bonus: A cute little French joke about the rain (la pluie) :
Mama Cloud and kid Cloud are wandering in the sky, when kid Cloud moves away.
“Ou vas-tu, Touffu ? (Where are you going, Fluffy ?)” Mama says.
“Je vais faire pluie-pluie (I’m going to do a pee-pee(pipi in French))”.
Frisian: Frisian: it reint âlde wiven (it rains old wives), hynste-eagen (horse eyes).
Faroese: Tað regnar av grind. - “It’s raining pilot whales.”
Finnish: Sataa kuin Esterin perseestä. The direct translation (apparently) is “It’s raining as from Esteri’s ass,” but a better interpretation is “It’s raining like Esther sucks,” which can be used for both rain and snow. The origin is disputed here, but the phrase comes either from an old brand of water pumps used by firemen, or a goddess Esteri who has mostly disappeared from history except for in this idiom.
German: Es regnet/gießt Schusterjungs / junge Hunde / in Strömen / wie aus Eimern/Kübeln - it’s raining/pouring cobbler boys / puppies/ in streams / like out of buckets
Es regnet Bindfäden - it’s raining strings/cords/threads
Greek: Βρέχει καρεκλοπόδαρα (Brékhei kareklopódara) - it’s raining chair legs
Haitian Creole: Chyen ap bwe nan nen - dogs are drinking in their noses
Hebrew: (yoréd mabúl) יורד מבול - a flood is coming down
Hungarian: Úgy esik, mintha dézsából öntenék - it’s raining as if it were poured from a tub
Icelandic: Það rignir eld og brennustein / Það er eins og hellt sé úr fötu - it’s raining fire and brimstone
Irish (Gaelic): Tá sé ag caitheamh sceana gréasaí - it’s throwing cobblers knives
Italian: Piove a catinelle Piove a dirotto Piove che Dio la manda - it’s raining like from basins / excessively / [as if] God sends it
Irish: Tá sé ag caitheamh sceana gréasaí - It’s throwing cobblers’ knives
Japanese: 土砂降りである (doshaburi de aru) - earth and sand are falling
Kannada: ಹುಛುಛಗಿ ಪಲೆ ಬರ್ಥ ಎದೆ (huchuchagi male bartha ede) - it’s raining like mad
Korean: 비가 억수같이 쏟아진다 - rain is pouring down like a torrential downpour.
Latvian: Līst kā pa Jāņiem - it’s raining like in Jāņi
Norwegian: Det regner trollkjerringer - it’s raining female trolls
Polish: Leje zabami / jak z cebra’ - it’s raining frogs / like from a wooden bucket
Bonus: “psia pogoda” (dog’s weather) means very unpleasant weather.
Portuguese: Está chovendo a cântaros / canivetes / barba de sapo / Chove como Deus a dá - it’s raining jugs / penknives / toads’ beards / It rains like God gives it
Serbian: Пада киша уби миша (Pada kiša, ubi miša) - the rain falls and kills the mice
Slovak: Padajú traktory - Tractors are falling
Spanish: Está lloviendo a cántaros / a cubos / a chuzos / a mares / a torrentes
it’s raining in jugfuls / buckets / pikes / seas / torrents
Estan lloviendo hasta maridos - It’s even raining husbands
ARGENTINA: Esta lloviendo caen soretes de punta - It’s raining dung head-first
Swedish: Det spöregnar / ösregnar / Regnet står som spön i backen - it’s raining like rods / ladles / the rain stands like rods in the hillside
Bonus: When it’s only raining a little, we say “det regnar småspik” – it’s raining small nails (the ones you hammer, not the ones on your fingers).
Thai: ฝนตกไม่ลืมหูลืมตา (fǒn tòk mâi luem hǔu luem taa) -it’s raining ears and eyes shut
Turkish: Bardaktan boşanırcasına yağmur yağıyor - it is raining as if it’s leaving the glass
Welsh: Mae hi’n bwrw hen wragedd a ffyn cyllyll a ffyrc - it’s raining old ladies and sticks / knives and forks
