WordPlay

by Kevin Cox

This column presents adventures in etymology,
or the study of the origins of words and phrases.

Spring has arrived, and in the Pacific Northwest this means rain! Accordingly, here are some origins of weather/rain-related phrases for your enjoyment:

Raining cats and dogs

I've often wondered where this curious phrase came from -- picture a Far Side-type cartoon with dogs and cats falling from the sky with yelped meows and barks. The current theory for the origin of this phrase is that due to the primitive drainage systems used in medieval cities , heavy rainstorms could drown many stray dogs and cats, making it seem as if they had fallen from the sky, causing gutters to overflow with debris, including garbage, sewage, and dead animals. This theory is doubtful, however, as there is no record of the phrase being used before the 1730s. Another possible origin is the idea that the sounds of a severe storm could be considered similar to those made by cats and dogs fighting. In Norse mythology, it was believed that cats influenced the weather, dogs represented the wind, and Odin, the sky god, was attended to by wolves. It is possible that the noise and violence of a storm metaphorically represents a cat and dog fight; these metaphors occurred beginning in 1579.

Rain check

Baseball fans will be familiar with this term, as that is where it arose: when a game was rained out, those who had tickets for that game were given a rain check that they could redeem at another game. That might explain why efforts to prevent a baseball game from being canceled by rain (and rain checks issued) are intense -- covering the playing field with a tarp, keeping the fans and players waiting as long as possible to see if the downpour will end. The term was soon used as a metaphor, and by the 1970s it had spread outside the U.S. and into other English-speaking countries. Usage of the term as early as 1884 gives an indication as to the popularity of baseball in the U.S. even then: "The heavy rain yesterday threw a damper over local operations. At each of the parks the audience had to be content with three innings and rain checks" (St. Louis [Missouri] Post-Dispatch 26 May 1884).

Cloud Nine

Cloud nine is an American slang phrase dating to the 1950s, but nothing else is known of its origin. Various stories have been attached to the term due to the number nine (The Beatles' White Album, anyone?). These stories are probably false, because in early usage other numbers were often used, most commonly seven, sometimes thirty-nine. A 1930s quote referred to drunkenness as being on c loud eight. The phrase is most likely simply a generalization of "elation" with no specific intent.

Under the Weather

This phrase, meaning ill health, is American in origin and dates to 1827, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The term probably comes from the notion that the weather can affect one's mood and health. Olivia Isil claimed that the phrase is a shortening of the nautical phrase under the weather bow , which refers to the side of the ship's bow that is taking the brunt of rough seas, implying seasickness; her claim is found in When a Loose Cannon Flogs a Dead Horse There's the Devil to Pay, a book specializing in the origins of nautical terms and phrases. Eric Partridge, in A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, refers to a British/Australian nautical use of the phrase meaning drunkenness. This usage is from the original Americanism. Isil may have confused the two senses. It is unclear which is the true origin.

Dark and Stormy Night

The phrase "It was a dark and stormy night..." has become synonymous with bad writing, especially characterized by lengthy run-on sentences. The line first was written by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) in the opening of his 1830 novel Paul Clifford:

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents -- except at
occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind
which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies),
rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame
of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

The phrase gained some notoriety after 1982, when the English Department at San Jose State University sponsored the ongoing Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, a “whimsical literary competition that challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels.” My personal favorite of the winning entries since 1983 is this 1991 entry, penned by Judy Frazier:

Sultry it was and humid, but no whisper of air caused the plump, laden
spears of golden grain to nod their burdened heads as they unheedingly
awaited the cyclic rape of their gleaming treasure, while overhead the
burning orb of luminescence ascended its ever-upward path toward a
sweltering celestial apex, for although it is not in Kansas that our story
takes place, it looks godawful like it.

References

www.bulwer-lytton.com
www.takeourword.com
www.wordorigins.org

Kevin Cox, Editor of The Willamette Galley, is a technical writer, composer, and musician, and has been a member of STC since 2000. He enjoys the outdoors, music, genealogy, and playing with words. He can be reached at knccomm@yahoo.com.