Where did the saying 'Raining cats & dogs' originate?

Answer 1

Here's the true answer.

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.

Odin was a Viking god and his attendant was a dog, which symbolized the wind.

Answer 2

The 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.

The idea that seeing dead cats and dogs floating by in storms would cause people to coin this phrase is just about believable. People may not have actually thought the animals had come from the sky, but might have made up the phrase to suit the occasion.

Answer 3

Someone else asked this. It refers to old england about 1600's to 1700's. It would rain so much that a londoner might just see the floating bodies of cats and dogs in the streets of london. So it was raining so hard it was drowning the animals.

Answer 4

In older times, public sanitation in cities was not what it is now. In other words, they didn't clean the streets and remove the garbage as often as they do now.

So, at times when it would rain heavily, you would see dead small animals being washed down the streets and gutters - rats, cats, dogs, etc. At some point someone connected the heavy rain with the thought that "it's raining cats and dogs" since you saw them coursing down the street only in a heavy - and street and gutter cleansing - rain.

Answer 5

The saying is supposed to come from the time when cats and dogs would sleep in the upper part of the house. Houses at the time were simpler with two large rooms with one upstairs and one downstairs. when it rained really hard they would come down to be nearer the fire. I don't know where I heard this but I like the idea and it has stuck with me eve since

Answer 6

On old thatch roof houses, the roofs would come down almost to the ground, when the weather was sunny, dogs and cats would climb on the sun themselves.

However, a sudden storm and the thatch becomes slippery, they slid and fall...

hence raining cats and dogs
:)

Answer 7

my book mysteries of the unexplained (readers digest ) have all sorts of accounts of animals raining from the heavens goes way back before biblical times things like frogs birds fish and dogs and cats ,a strange phenomena, maybe thats why the saying raining cats and dogs.

Answer 8

Apparently from a serious tornado that sucked up all sorts of pets and when it was running out of energy, dumped them on an unsuspecting town in the UK.

It has happened with frogs and fish as well but the saying 'It's raining Frogs and Fish' never really caught on.

Answer 9

From Old London when the dead dogs and cats used to wash down the roads when it rained

Answer 10

Don't know, but I do know it was raining cats and dogs and there were poodles in the street.