Raining Cats and Dogs
Explanations behind commonly used yet unusual American expressions
Philip Sweet
Reporter
Has it ever been “raining cats and dogs” while you’re working the “graveyard shift” or have you ever been told to “mind your own beeswax” while “gossiping” about someone, and wondered where these odd expressions came from?
Over the hundreds of years that English has been spoken many expressions have appeared and become standards, even though their origin has been forgotten. For starters, the expression “raining cats and dogs,” while you’ve probably hear this expression since you were a kid, chances are you have no idea what household animals have to do with the weather. To understand this expression you have to go back to medieval England, where people’s houses were roofed with massive bundles of straw, in which all types of critters would take refuge during the winter. When it rained the straw would become slippery and the cats and dogs that, were taking shelter, would slide off the roof, much to the amusement of the humans inside.
Another archaic expression from medieval England is the term “graveyard shift”. In England, it was common to dig up coffins after a few years to make room for the freshly deceased in the graveyards, to the surprise of the grave workers, they often found scratch marks on the inside of the dug up coffins (they were burying people alive), so they started putting a string with a bell on the end in with the dead so that, if buried alive, one could pull said bell and ring a bell beside their grave. The “graveyard shift” was assigned to the person who got to sit beside fresh graves all through the night, to make sure that they really were dead.
On a lighter note, the term “gossip” arose from practice of early politicians sending their associates to local pubs (public houses) or bars (who’s name comes from the wood “bar” on which the drinks were served), to “go sip” and listen to what the people wanted from their government. It wasn’t long before “go-sipping” became its own word.
Then there is that “Bluetooth” thing. The Bluetooth signal, which was originally the signal that connected the cell phone to the now famous wireless head set with the same name, gets its name form the Danish king, Harald Blatand, who brought many Nordic tribes under his banner. The scientist who developed the Bluetooth signal wished to unite the many types of gadgets in our increasingly wireless world under one banner much like Harald Blatand, so they translated his last name to English and attached it to their invention.
Another technologic term we all know is the “Blackberry”, originally to be called the strawberry, due to the resemblance of its keys to that of the seeds of the little red fruit, the name was scratched because “straw” sounded to slow and unmanly, and so marketing suggested the uses of “blackberry” as a placeholder until a better name could be thought of. However, the name leaked onto the internet and spread like wildfire before a replacement could be found, so they were forced to stick with the replacement berry.
If one has family secrets, or personal matters that they wish to keep out of public view are often said to have “a skeleton in their closet”. Scary as it may be, this expression has very literal roots, which date back to the medical community of 17th century Europe. This was a time in which body snatching, the stealing and trading of dead bodies, was unerringly common, and the law forbid the owning of skeletons for medical reasons, so doctors would have to illegally acquire skeletons and then hide them in their cupboards or closets. Luckily the practice was stopped with the legalization of medical cadavers in 1832, the expression however has managed to survive.
Have you ever been asked to “spill the beans” about a surprise party or your new significant other and wondered who first wasted their beans? The phrase goes back to the ancient Greeks, who made political decisions via an electoral system. To do this, voters would place either white, for yes, or black, for no, beans in big clay jars. Once everyone in the assembly had voted, the beans would be counted up, and a decision was made. However, if a clumsy voter knocked over the jar, it was said that they had “spilled the beans”, and since this would not only reveal what side the clumsy voter supported, but also which side had greater favor, it was used to describe any one who lets a secret out.
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