Why Do People Say ‘It’s Raining Cats and Dogs’ When It’s Actually Just Rain?

It’s raining cats and dogs means it's raining really hard. But where did this phrase come from? Long ago, people saw big drops of rain falling like little animals, cats and dogs. So they started saying the sky was raining them! It might also be because some ancient languages had words that sounded like ‘cats’ and ‘dogs.’ Now it’s just a fun way to talk about heavy rain.

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Examples

  1. When it started raining so hard, my mom said, ‘It’s raining cats and dogs!’
  2. I was outside during a storm and heard someone say, ‘Wow, it really is raining cats and dogs today.’
  3. My teacher told us to bring an umbrella because it looked like it was raining cats and dogs.

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Categories: Science · idioms· language· weather