Why do we call it raining "cats and dogs"?
445153
because in old times, dogs and cats would hang out on the roof of houses, and when it rained, the roof would get really slippery and the cats and dogs would fall off. The people inside saw the cats and dogs falling past the windows and said it was raining cats and dogs =]
530572
its raining outside and her pet cat wants to come in.
714219
1) Cats were the devil's animal in folk belief and were thought to have power over good and evil. This power extended to control over the weather. Superstitious people believed that if a cat washed it face then that meant that it was going to rain. If seen clawing or leaping - that meant gales.\n\nOdin was a Viking god and his attendant was a dog, which symbolized the wind.\n\n2)"Raining cats and dogs?" That's a sad story. In the 17th century in England, cats and dogs ran wild. After a heavy rainstorm, many of them would be found drowned. Their bodies would float in the rivers, or be swept down the streets by the floodwaters. People would see the dead animals. They would look up at the sky. "Been rainin' cats and dogs," they would finally conclude.
614642
Yes I'am! The weather is perfect here in Texas and all the kids are at school and it is just me and my cat and dog here. Sorry about the ear infection Rain....Get well soon...
396351
Because we know that the rain falls on the just and the unjust.  (Matthew 5:45)\n\nBeing a Christians doesn't mean that bad things don't happen to you.  But it does mean that God will help you deal with what happens.  He is there in our trials with us.
230403
dogs and cats have seperate blood groups, they actually are further evolved than humans because it is possible for ANY dog to give blood to a dog that has not previously been transfused and for the dog not to suffer any consequences
275662
Yes!  I love the rain!  It's a refreshing of the air, the earth, and the senses.  I love the smell of rain in the air, wet soil, the way it feels going for a walk in the rain, especially on a warm summer day when the rain is warm, not cold.  Cloudy, rainy days make me think of growing up in the SF Bay Area, I miss it terribly.
779403
To me, it just means that it's as normal as rain is.  After all - think how bad things would be if you DIDN'T have rain!
472840
This is an interesting phrase in that, although there's no definitive origin, there are several speculative derivations.\n\nThe first thing to say is that the phrase seems to be unrelated to the well-known antipathy between dogs and cats, which is made word in the phrase "fight like cat and dog". In fact "raining cats and dogs" doesn't make a great deal of literal sense and the explanations below that attempt to link the phrase to felines, canines and weather seem rather feeble. \n\nHere goes though - take your choice.\n\nIt comes from mythology. Witches, who often took the form of their familiars - cats, are supposed to have ridden the wind. Dogs and wolves were attendants to Odin, the god of storms and sailors associated them with rain. Well, some evidence would be nice. There doesn't appear to be any to support this notion.\n\n\nCats and dogs were supposed to be washed from roofs during heavy weather. This is a widely repeated tale. It got a lease of life with the message "Life in the 1500s", which began circulating on the Internet in 1999. Here's the relevant part of that:\n\nI'll describe their houses a little. You've heard of thatch roofs, well that's all they were. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. They were the only place for the little animals to get warm. So all the pets; dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs, all lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery so sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Thus the saying, "it's raining cats and dogs."\n\nThis is nonsense of course. It hardly needs debunking, but, least there be any doubt... \n\nDogs lived in thatched roofs? No, of course they didn't. Even accepting that mad idea, for them to have slipped off when it rained they would have needed to be on the outside - hardly the intuitive place for an animal to shelter from bad weather.\n\n\nThe phrase is supposed to have originated in England in the 17th century when city streets were filthy and heavy rain would occasionally carry along dead animals. \n\nThe idea that seeing a dead cats and dogs floating by in storms would cause people to coin this phrase is far fetched, but just about believable.\n\n\nAnother suggestion is that it comes from a version of the French word, catadoupe, meaning waterfall. \n\nWell, again. No evidence. If the phrase were 'raining cats' or if there also existed a French word, dogadoupe we might be going somewhere with this one. As there isn't lets pass this by. \nReturning to facts rather than idle speculation, we do know that the phrase was in use in a modified form in 1653, when Richard Brome's The City Wit, has the line:\n\n"It shall raine .. Dogs and Polecats".\n\nPolecats aren't cats as such but the jump between them in linguistic rather than veterinary terms isn't large. \n\nIn a form more like the current version it appears in Jonathan Swift’s 'A Complete Collection of Polite and Ingenious Conversation' in 1738: \n\n"I know Sir John will go, though he was sure it would rain cats and dogs".\n\nMore likely than any of the versions given above is that this is just a nice descriptive turn of phrase, which doesn't relate to any particular event or practise. \n\nThere's a similar phrase originating from the north of England - "it's raining stair-rods". No one has gone to the effort of speculating that this is from mythic reports of stairs being carried into the air in storms and falling on gullible peasants. Its just a rather good vivid phrase giving a graphic impression of heavy rain.\n\nAnother similar phrase is "it’s raining like pitchforks", the first known reference of which is D. Humphreys' Yankey in England, 1815:\n\n"I'll be even with you, if it rains pitchforks - tines downwards."
238296
the REAL reason is that in London in the 1800's stray cats would wander the rooftops of the city, looking for rats, occaisonally a dog would find its way up there. if it started to rain hard sometimes a dog or cat would get caught in a gutter and would float right out onto the street. whenever it would rain hard enough for this to happen, the londoners would say that it was "raining cats and dogs."
629107
Looks Like Rain.  \n\nthe link in the source is to david dodd's online version of his book.
290102
While I agree with your opinion, I like thunder storms, blizzards and wind storms - I live in a rural area and when these occur, I race around with my cats to watch from each window of the house - soon after we are exhausted and fall asleep for an afternoon nap.  But when I get up, I have to shovel or clean-up the debris.  It was worth it though, because the memories have been precious.\n\n....then there's the 4 O'Clock sun on a summer day when your shadow is long as you are walking home and you start to day dream - thats cool!
1150487
because that's what they choose to call them\nwhy are dogs called dogs? duh
383253
The term, which has been around since the 18th century, is of unknown origin but there are several theories floating about, none of which has anything to do with thatched roofs!\n\nRain cats and dogs: If the rain is teeming down the it's said to be raining cats and dogs. This seems to be an odd way of describing weather. The expression first appeared in print in 1653.("It shall raine.....dogs and polecats").\nThere are three possible origins, one of which goes back to Norse times. In old Norse weather lore the cat was related to rain and the dog to the wind. If this were the origin then it is likely that the words would have appeared in print before 1653.\n\nThe second suggestion puts the basis in the Greek word Catadupa, "cataract" or "waterfall".\n\nThe final idea suggests that the drainage of medieval streets was so poor that cats and dogs frequently drowned during a heavy downpour. Swift's "Description of a City Shower" (1710) gives a good idea of what it was like. It's worth repeating.
700523
A bit vague I know, but this is the best I can come up with.\n\nThere is a nautical expression "cats paw" which refers to a light transitory air which ruffles the surface of the water during a calm, or the ripples made by such a puff of air.\n\nOtherwise, in geology, the only other references to "cats paw" are features such as glaciers or rock formations which are called this because they resemble a cats paw. (see link)
57126
We have had nice weather lately. During the day it is usually in the 70's and we have had cooler nights, usually in the 50's.  We have had very little rain lately.
299018
"It's been raining today"