Dear Tom,
Where in the world did the extraordinary expression “raining cats and dogs” originate?
Frank A. O’Toole, Schaumburg
Dear Frank,
It’s one of those phrases whose origin has been lost in the mists of antiquity, but here’s a plausible explanation.
In mythological tales once prevalent across northern Europe, cats and dogs were believed to be associated with the weather, to the point that they were even able to cause or to influence it. English sailors attributed gales and violent rainstorms to cats, and in northern Europe the dog was a symbol of the wind.
The mythology thus brought together the separate concepts of rain, wind, gales, cats and dogs — and it all came to be incorporated into a single compelling and enduring expression, “It’s raining cats and dogs!”
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
