These islands are nothing if not weather-obsessed, as the subject-matter of our small-talk proves. Without doubt, most inhabitants of this famously rainy country have, at one time or another, been drawn into a conversation with a complete stranger that started with “It’s raining cats and dogs out there,” or “Nice weather for ducks!” And these tropes represent only a fraction of the words and phrases available in the English language to describe this particular weather event.
But our textured lexicon didn’t evolve to help us make conversation while standing in queues (another one of our national pastimes); rather it has seeped in over centuries due to the profound influence that rain has had on our lives and landscape.
“April showers bring May flowers,” we might say – it’s in fact a line…
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The Simple Things (Digital) - 1 Issue, April 2022