“Pouring the rain’ instead of ‘pouring down’ or ‘pouring down with rain’ must be an ‘Appalachianism’, to coin a phrase. I’ve never heard or read that exact phrase before in any case.”
Someone left the above comment a few weeks ago. I’ve heard pouring the rain my entire life and say it often myself when talking about a heavy rain. Here’s some examples:
- It was pouring the rain when I got off work.
- It looks like it’s going to pour the rain you better hurry on home.
Long time Blind Pig reader Ed Ammons said the following:
“Your post about heavy rainfall brought something to mind today that I hadn’t thought about in many years. When it came a heavy rainstorm, my mother used to say “it’s coming a pour out.” But that’s not all that popped into my head. She had another use for pour out. She would say something like “it’s a pour out that I can’t get none of you youngins to do anything I tell you!” Have you ever heard the phrase used that way?”
I’ve not heard pour out used in relation to getting someone to do something, but I have heard a few old timers use the phrase to refer to a heavy rain.
Here’s some other rain sayings.
- Little Noah: a heavy rain storm
- Cloud burst: a very heavy amount of rain in short period of time in a localized area
- Like a picked chicken in a rain storm (sounds very uncomfortable)
- Raining like cattle with their horns down (seems like I’ve heard this one, but not sure)
- A bull frog knows more about rain than the Almanac (true)
- A small rain will lay a great dust (a very deep saying if you study on it)
- As right as rain
- More rain, more rest (I’m sure this one was from the days when most folks were farmers)
- Don’t have sense enough to come in out of the rain (I hear this one often)
- The rain doesn’t know broadcloth from jeans (another wise one)
- Voice like rain on a tin roof (I think that would be a very pretty voice)
- It never rains but it pours (ain’t that the truth!)
- One raindrop can’t make a crop
- As welcome as the sun after a rain
- Sunshine follows the rain
- Gully-washer – A heavy rain
- Rain-seed – mottled clouds that mean rain is coming
- Trash-breaker, trash-washer – A big and sudden downpour of rain
- If the sun is shining when it’s raining the Devil is beating his wife (I’ve heard this one my whole life and it’s actually happening as I write this post)
We’ve had rain about every day this week. I’m so glad we got Pap’s big garden planted before it started. The rain will be really good for the things we have growing, but I’m anxious for some sunshine so we can plant our tomatoes, peppers, and other things.
Last night’s video: Pancake Supper – Easy, Quick, & Yummy!
Tipper
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My daddy used to say, if it had been a dry spell and a lot of clods were in the field, a “clod soaker” was a gentle rain that would soften the ground.
I have heard many of these sayings, but we almost always said it’s coming a duck drownder.
My husband, who was from Knoxville, TN, used to say “It’s raining like a cow peeing on a flat rock!”
When we see a storm cloud and hear thunder, we say “it’s fixin’ to come up a cloud.”
Tipper, I enjoyed the Pancakes for breakfast video. To make it even easier, and faster, for a crowd, I line a sheet pan with parchment paper and bake them in the oven at 400° for 15 -20 minutes, depending on your oven. This also makes it easy to put, blueberries, strawberries, bananas or chocolate chips on all or part of them. You can adjust oven temp to cook bacon at the same time on the rack below. We cut the pancakes into squares and freeze leftovers for quick snack or meal at another time. Give it a try. Enjoy!
It has been my opinion that “pour out”, in reference to heavy rainfall, is just a cleaned up version of “like pouring piss out of a boot”.
I’ve heard most all of these all my life. I’ve also heard – “It’s raining to beat the band.” – “It’s raining cats and dogs.” – “Even a dog has sense enough to get in out of the rain.” – “When it rains it pours.”
I feel like me and my family have been going through the last one here lately, but God is always faithful and His strength is made perfect in our weakness. 🙂
Reading the comments I got sidetracked onto “poor out”. Have not heard that in a great while and had forgotten it. Somebody might ask, ” How’d yer pole shed turn out?” And the other answer, “Well, I made a mighty poor out of it, part sigoggling and some cattywupus.” But I am plumb familiar with “pouring the rain” to.
My favourite saying is,” it’s raining cats, dogs, fish hooks & hammer heads”. Don’t remember where I heard it though. One friend of mine used to meow & bark running through a hard rain, so I’d follow him saying “bing, bang, plink plunk.”
Someone mentioned “not enough sense to come in out of a shower of rain” or something along those lines. Nowadays that is not a problem, those people will either have an Apt or smart phone that will tell them what to do!
I’ve never heard the saying “pouring the rain” used, but have heard many of the others all my life. The one about rain on a tin roof brings back pleasant childhood memories. The house I grow up in had a tin roof and a slow rain on the roof at night was a lullaby.
Morning Miss Tipper Matt and everyone. Hope you all get your gardens in. We started ours, had no rain for quite a few days. Til This past week and weekend came a few gully washers. Almost tornadic. Everything looked a lot better. We are trying two raised beds, 4×8 ft, this year and a couple of much bigger garden spots. Hubby is 83 this year and slowing down a little, but still loves to work garden and being out of doors. My wonderful mother in law said a few phrases that always stood out to me. Loved it. “Come a rain,” “of a morning,” many where she’d start a sentence this way. There were a few more but at my age 77 I’m not remembering like I use to. Blessings to the family and y’all have a great day and weekend ahead. Bye the way, love breakfast for supper, anytime. My favorite is pancakes, with applesauce and a tad of syrup, fried eggs and spam. Will fix sausage and bacon for the boss, the rest he’ll eat, not applesauce so much. TTYLATER GATOR.
I have not heard pouring the rain. When we had a heavy rain, my aunt would say, “It’s just peppering.”
Well Linda, you just made me remember hearing my mama and dad say “It’s just peppering the rain” too. So many ways to speak about rain.
I always heard if it rains on Monday, it will rain 3 more times in the week. Also, if it rains while the sun is shining it will rain the same time tomorrow. Tipper, I love how you both entertain and educate us in your own enchanting way. Sending love out and prayers up for all of you. May God bless you even more!
My late husband, a Florida boy through and through, always said, “it looks like it’s going to come a rain”. I loved his soft “accent”. I think I fell in love with his voice before I fell in love with him! 😉
This morning we are having our own version of a pour out here in the Ozarks of Southern Missouri.
I am very familiar with cloud burst, right as rain, gulley washer, and don’t have sense to come in out of the rain! We use them often. ‘When it rains, it pours ‘ is also commonly heard. Our frog reference is frog drownder!!
I have never thought about the saying being Appalachianism. It’s pouring the rain has been said more than a few times around here lately. The sun is shining today but tomorrow looks to be another washout. I planted everything in my garden plus a half acre of flowers in two days…all by myself. With the weather prediction for more rain and the sign being ‘very fertile’, I had to get it done and I’m glad I did.
Love all the “rain-isms”! Have used some, heard some; but “pour the rain” or just “pour rain” were the main way we said it.
I’ll add it’s raining cats and dogs to the list.
Between the rain and sunshine together I’d say the devils wife is just about stone dead!
Today may be a good day to plant and mow yards because Saturday is going to be another gully-washer!
Randy, I remember Jerry Clower saying hurrcanado.
Prayers and blessings to all.
When we first moved here, I was walking toward the grocery store on a threatening day. A woman coming toward me said, “Looks like it’s come a rain, don’t it.” What a great way to express it. (I also was surprised by a comment coming from someone I didn’t know. I’m not surprised anymore. One of the beautiful things about this part of the world.)
I’ve always heard “pouring the rain” or just “pouring rain”. I’ve never heard “trash-washer” but have heard “gully washer”. My grandparents used to say, “the devil is beating his wife” when the sun was shining during the rain, but they also said, “it will be raining this time tomorrow”.
Unfamiliar with “pouring the rain”. But have heard several of the others.
Great sayings all of those!! Not sure where I picked this up but I describe heavy downpours as “it’s a frog strangling gully washer.”
Prayers continue for Granny. Y’all should get a great stand of corn with all this rain and sunshine that breaks through.
I’ve always heard and say “pourin rain” instead of pouring the rain. I guess my people just shorten it. I’ve heard several of those other sayings you noted too. We drove through some golly washers yesterday and other places were just pourin rain. But I’m thankful God watered the gardens for us.
I’ve never heard ‘pouring the rain’ before but I have heard several in your list with ‘gully washer’ being the most common one I heard in my home growing up but I do not hear that one very much anymore since my parents passed on.
Good morning, you’ll. I have heard “raining cats and dogs” in WV. Recently my thought on rain was I know April showers brings May flowers but the flowers are all blooming and this rain is beating the blooms to death, so enough already!
I have heard and seen it be true. saying about raining and sun shining at same time.. will be raining tomorrow at same time. also heard all my life about devil beating his wife.
I’m quite familiar with “pouring the rain,” but have you heard “frog strangler”? The phrase “pour out” I’ve heard, but always thought it was “poor out,” meaning, I’m assuming, a poor excuse for not doing something.
Angie-that one is common here to 🙂
I always thought a “pour out” was a cooking/canning expression. Like something turning out so badly that it was unrecoverable that you had to pour it out and start over. An abject failure! Like a gentle rain that falls from the sky compared to a “pour out” that seems to have been ejected from the same.
my father always called a heavy rain a frog strangler.
I’ve heard several of the sayings about rain and we do say it’s pouring the rain quite often. We’ve had a good amount of rain the last couple of weeks. Today it’s suppose to be rain free, but have some more tomorrow. Hopefully I can get some more of the garden planted. I have about 1/3 of it done, but we’ll see what I can get accomplished today!
Yep..have been saying “pouring the rain” all my 81 years(maybe since I learned to talk)
Rain, rain go away! Come again another day (at least a week from today!) I gotta confess y’all, I’m sick of the monsoon season. It’s rained for the past 10 or so days in WV and I’m about to consider moving where the sun MAY shine-a place of hope lol. I got cabbages in and tomatoes but all my other plants are sitting like knots on a log waiting for sun cause rain will ROT the lot… You KNOW a frog knows rain better than any prediction and that one I like a lot! I always hear good stuff from the “gal in NC” who is you by the way ! Give granny our best wishes from the land of the monsoon in WV. Blessings to all the younguns and their little babies!!!!
A local radio personality often referred to a heavy rain as a goat floater or a goat strangler.
Enjoyed the blog. I have heard many of the phases you mentioned.
My mother always called a heavy rain a toad strangler. Have you ever heard that?
Rose-I have 🙂
Yes, this has been a rainy few days. I’m ok with the rain, just not the lightning & high winds/tornados.
I have used gully washer all my life, and as right as rain. Have a good week. Enjoy the spots of sunshine, like this morning.
I’ve heard the expression (it’s a pour out I can’t get you kids to) but always assumed it was (a poor out) just like a poor shame or a poor sight etc. Just my two cents.
In regards to the rain my grandad had a saying “it’s a rainin’ right down “ and my wife’s folks would call a hard rain a “real toad strangler”.
Anyway we’ve been blessed here in the Shenandoah Valley with plenty rain this month. Seems all I get done is mow grass. Oh yeah I forgot one, it’s raining cats and dogs for I just saw a poodle in the yard.
Don, one of the “want to’s” in my life was to visit the Shenandoah Valley during the fall of the year, but I know I will never get to. The pictures I have seen in magazines were beautiful. Be careful in your yard, if it is raining cats and dogs you might step in something!
What a great collections of sayings about rain. I have heard most of them. My Mother-in-Law, before she Passed, used to say, ‘He will give us what he wants us to have or what He thinks we need, and I now use that a lot in remembering her. I am glad you got rain for the corn…hubby and I were wondering about how you were gonna water them. Prayers for Granny and your growing family…next month another is joining. God Bless
Down in the swampland , gator gusher, palmetto pounder and frog strangler are common. And a blow is commin!
My mother used to say, “It’s raining cats and dogs,” and also, “We’re about to get thunder and rain struck.” I’ve also heard something said about raining frogs, but I can’t recall the exact phrase. Fall season is very wet in the north country where wetlands abound, and I’ve heard people talking about “swimming in the muck” and “takin’ a bath in the grass.” So fun!
My Mama always says “It’s pouring the rain”, or “It’s raining cats and dogs out there” for a heavy rain. We also say a big rain is a “gully washer”. Your ‘breakfast for supper’ meal looked mighty delicious last night. I was making a simple supper myself at the time of sloppy joes and tossed salad. But, yours looked so good, I may have to have that tonight. There’s never a bad time for pancakes. Hope you get your sunshine today!❤️
I have heard many of the same sayings. It seems like I have also heard “it is raining cats and dogs. In some of his funny stories, Jerry Clower would call a bad thunderstorm a hurrinado- part Hurricane and part tornado. It has also been raining a good bit here, about every other day for the last 2 weeks, but for the last several years after May it turns dry and very hot through the summer. I hope it will not be like that this year. I enjoy a good rainy day, not stormy, it seems to fit the way I now feel on many days.