Stop Saying "It's Raining Cats and Dogs!"

(upbeat music)

- Now usually my "Stop saying..." videos

are just like, hey, here are some other ways

to say this thing, which might sound better,

but today is different.

Today I want to talk to you about an expression in English

that your teacher definitely taught you.

- Feels like it's gonna rain like dogs and cats later.

- You've probably seen in your English textbooks...

- It's raining dogs and cats, do we normally

say it like that?

- No, it should be cats and dogs.

- He's got it the wrong way around.

- Maybe you saw in movies or on TV.

- It's raining cats and dogs.

- Oh, it's raining cats and dogs.

- It's raining cats and dogs out there.

- I said it's raining cats and dogs.

- Yes, I heard you.

- But in real life, no one uses it, like no one.

(upbeat music)

Before we begin, my ebook is available.

There are worksheets on my favorite lessons

including this one, you can find that on my Patreon,

the link is in the description.

The point of today's video isn't just to say,

hey, we don't say, it's raining cats and dogs,

which we don't by the way, I've never said it in my life.

But anywho, the point of today's video

is to help you learn English better,

and become a better student.

Learning isn't just remembering a list of facts and words

or expressions, no, learning is about taking a lesson

and applying it to your life in a meaningful way.

So, this is what we're going to do.

After each section of this lesson, I want you to take

just one word or one expression, and think about a time

in your life where you've seen or experienced that.

Or maybe a time in the future that you might use it.

If you think you're never going to use this word

or this expression, forget it, it's rubbish.

It's not worth remembering, but if you think that this idiom

is useful to you, make a note, put it in the comments,

use it in conversation with a friend,

post it in your Instagram stories.

If you do, tag me, @PapaTeachMe, I'll repost it

and show everyone how cool you are.

Look at you with your amazing English skills.

Okay, so first, we do have more

poetic expressions and idioms about rain,

like cats and dogs.

But once we actually say it like this,

I was walking outside, the weather was fine,

and then the heavens just opened.

When you want to say, it just started raining very heavily,

we say the heavens opened.

Less poetic, but still dramatic is this one,

dude, it's like it's raining sideways.

Literally, I don't know about your country but in England

when it's freezing cold and windy, it rains sideways.

Or when the rain starts, stops, starts stops,

we say it's raining, on and off,

on starting off stopping.

That's the most English type of weather.

Every day, it rains on and off.

Also, we have very useful expressions,

which include the word rain, but don't actually mean rain.

First a verb, this is to pour,

and we use the verb pour to mean heavy rain.

For example, it's pouring outside, it's raining a lot,

got that?

Cool.

So with that in mind,

when a lot of things good or bad

doesn't matter, happen in a very short space of time,

we say when it rains, it pours.

For example,

on Monday, you lose your job, and then the next day,

I can't draw a cat, but that's a cat.

Tuesday your cat dies.

And then the next day, you get sick, you get a cold,

all of these bad things in a short space of time.

That is when you would say,

when it rains, it pours.

In other words, life doesn't give you good or bad things

in a normal way.

Over time, it gives you lots of things all at once,

like a lot of rain.

But like I said, it doesn't have to be just bad things,

it could be a lot of good things at the same time.

You have been trying to get a job for months,

and you went on interviews, you applied to lots of places,

everywhere told you, no, nah.

But then in the same week,

someone offers you a job, and then,

like a load of other job offers come as well.

So again, it can be bad things, it can be good things,

but all all of a sudden, at the same time.

Again, you could say, wow, okay.

When it rains, it pours.

This is where you improve your learning skills.

Take this expression.

Think of a time in your life where something

like this has happened.

There was nothing for a long time, and then all of a sudden,

lots of good things or lots of bad things,

all in a short space of time happen to you.

Pause the video, write about that experience

in the comments.

While you do that, please like this video.

When you're done, continue watching this video,

until you notice another expression, another idiom.

Another word that you think, mmh, yes, I like this one,

I'm going to use this one in the future

and do the same thing.

Trust me, it will stay in your head,

you'll learn much better this way.

Anyway, sorry, sorry, the topic of today is rain, right?

So, when it's raining, how can you describe it?

What do we usually say?

In general, in real life, most commonly, we'd just say this,

wow, it's really raining out, or wow, it's so rainy out.

Rain is a verb and a noun, but rainy, that's the adjective.

If it's a lot of rain we'd say this,

wow, it's really pouring down out there.

So you'll notice that when we talk about weather,

we usually say the expression with, out,

literally meaning outside.

It's hot out, it's raining out, it's very windy out,

and so on.

So the most common things that you will hear

with a lot of rain.

When we talk about weather, it's something is pouring down,

you learned the meaning of pour earlier.

In weather terms, it just means a lot of rain,

a stronger version.

Now this is a swear word,

is the rain bad?

May, it is pissing down.

So yeah, it's stronger, it's more vulgar,

be careful where you use it.

Like I said earlier, usually we put

the, out at the end meaning outside,

it's pouring down out.

You don't need it, but sometimes you'll hear it,

sometimes you might say it.

You also have the option of putting it between the verb

and the preposition.

You don't need the it.

It means the same thing, with or without,

and no one cares if you put it there.

Other options include, it's chucking it down,

that's also very common,

or it's tipping it down.

Oh my God, it's bucketing it down.

May, it is throwing it down out there,

or wow, it's really coming down out there.

And all of those expressions just mean a lot of rain.

Oh, there's another really common expression

with the word rain but doesn't mean rain.

You go to bed feeling really terrible,

your nose is just prrrr,

your head is just...

(metal hitting)

and you feel so sick.

But then, after a good sleep you feel great again.

I was feeling really bad last night but today

I'm right as rain.

Now in textbooks, in dictionaries, you will see this as,

as rights as rain, but to be honest in conversation,

most people drop the as and we just say, I'm right as rain.

I feel right as rain, this is rights as rain.

It doesn't have to be your feeling,

it could also be a situation.

For example, when two friends are fighting,

and then the next day, they talk and they're okay again,

now they're right as rain.

We had an argument yesterday, but today,

everything's right as rain.

Again, try to use this expression.

When have you had a situation that was really bad,

and then got better and you were completely fine again?

Use that expression in your own example

relevant to your life.

Write it in the comments, put it in your Instagram stories,

whatever, I know I just did this, sorry, Brazilians.

Again, I'm so sorry, back to weather stuff.

How can we describe rain when it's just starting

or it's just a little bit?

We have a few options when we want to say

it's just a little bit of rain.

Like, it's trying to rain,

it's not much.

I like that expression because it sounds sarcastic.

Also, we say this, it's spitting just a little bit.

To spit means...

(spitting)

That thing.

So yeah, again, we're saying that the clouds

are spitting just a little bit of rain.

Have you noticed that there's no down preposition here?

When you say the rain is coming down, is pouring down,

there's that feeling of a lot but we don't use down here,

because it's not a lot, just a little bit.

So it's trying to rain, it's spitting a bit.

It's drizzling, the verb to drizzle.

Have you ever made a cake?

I can't hear your answer, but, when you make a cake

and you have the icing, when you put the icing on top,

that verb is to drizzle, to do this with the icing.

So, to drizzle, also for rain.

This situation, you're walking in the street,

the sun is shining, everything's happy,

but then it starts to rain and you don't have your umbrella.

We have an expression for this situation.

What is it?

What do you think?

Have a guess, I'll give you two seconds.

(Clock ticking)

I got caught in the rain.

So we're using the verb to catch in a passive

like the weather tricked you.

Like Haha, you got wet, you got wet.

Which brings us to the next point.

When you get caught in the rain for example,

and now water is everywhere.

On your clothes, in your hair, lucky you just everywhere.

The three most common ways to say I have water on me,

the most common I'm wet.

That's the standard way of saying, there is water on me.

I'm very wet, I'm soaked,

or I'm soaking.

An optional, I'm soaking wet.

Or an extreme version, I'm drenched.

We don't change this to I'm drenching, no, I don't know why.

Anyway, when was the last time that you were wet,

soaking wet or drenched and why?

Wait, wait, wait, there's another expression that we use

with rain, which also doesn't have anything

to do with the weather.

When you have plans with someone,

and then you want to either cancel them or delay them,

you say this,

hey, are we still meeting today?

Ah, I'm sorry, I have to work today,

I have to take a rain check.

Now I've taught this expression a few times,

you can click right there to watch a whole video

about canceling and rescheduling plans.

But this expression to take a rain check,

or you could simply just say,

hey, I'm rain check.

That's enough, we both know that you want to delay

the event, the meeting until later.

And it's not specific about time, so you could respond

like this, can we take a rain check on today?

Next week, I'll have more time.

See?

Super easy.

So try to use that in your next conversation

where you have to delay or cancel plans.

Duh, sorry, I did it, again.

This is a lesson about the weather

and I'm talking about canceling plans, stupid teacher.

How can we describe the clouds before the rain

or just rubbish gray clouds?

The general word to describe, it's just cloudy.

There's no rain, but no sun.

Just gray skies,

we say, it's overcast.

Again, this just means it's gray, it's cloudy.

The sky isn't blue or fun.

And this is fine for formal or informal conversations,

but for casual conversations,

we prefer to talk about the mood of the sky.

It's gray, it's depressing and...

It's so gloomy.

It looks so miserable out.

It's miserable, and again, we can add that preposition out.

Literally outside or and my favorite one,

those clouds definitely don't look happy.

So thanks for watching.

By the way, you just watched a whole video about rain,

English expressions about rain.

Never trust me again.

I'll see you next time though.

(upbeat music)