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

Do we really say "It's raining cats and dogs"?
What are some more useful English idioms about rain?
How do we describe light or heavy rain in English?

English vocabulary from the video:

Useful versions of "Cats and dogs":
"The heavens opened!"
"It's raining sideways!"
"It's raining on and off"

Useful English Idioms NOT related to weather, but still include the word "rain":
When it rains, it pours
(as) right as rain
(take a) Raincheck

Rain vocabulary from the video:
It's pouring/pissing/chucking/throwing/bucketing/tipping (it) down
It's coming down

Light rain vocabulary
"It's trying to rain"
"It's spitting"

Rubbish grey cloud vocabulary:
"It's overcast"
"It's gloomy"
"It's miserable out"
"Those clouds don't look happy"

Try to use this vocabulary! Choose which items of vocabulary you might use in the future, then make a sentence with it, make that sentence relevant to your life! Write it in the comments or post it on your Instagram and tag me! @papateachme
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[adila]

"When it rains, it pours" this is a totally good expression we can use about 2020🤔

[spklyunicorn]

I am from the Southern US and we use "It's raining cats and dogs, " all of the time. I actually teach my ESL students here in Costa Rica several Southern idioms and they seem to enjoy it,

[johnnicholls]

It's bucketing down !

Yep it's raining cats and dogs.

It's a lovely colourful expression to have up one's sleeve !!

[inesperroud]

It happened to me three months ago. I had to get home after finishing an English course. It was really tipping it down out. All the streets were flooded. There were no taxis nowhere. It was raining sideways. Fortunately, I had an inverted umbrella I bought in London one year ago. Unfortunately, I hadn't taken a raincoat. So when I got home, I was drenched. I felt really bad. I was cold. I had a headache. I couldn't stop sneezing. I drank a hot tea and I went to bed. After a good sleep, the next day I was right as rain.

[klaudiaw]

"when it rains, it pours" here in Poland we have an expression like that but it's used only for negative situations. Translation would be "misfortunes don't come in pairs, they run in herds".

[shivamraj]

This is by far the most comprehensive video I have ever seen about rain. Really loved it. You are head and shoulders above every other English teacher on YouTube.

[okazakibuddhist]

I wouldn't normally watch this, but it showed up on my "suggested" videos and the title attracted me.

Hate to break it to you, but "Raining cats and dogs" is still a very common saying used in real life in the States, at least in the Midwest where I am from. It is also fairly commonly used amongst expats in Japan. Perhaps you can say it is not used in the UK, but you shouldn't say it isn't used and is trash.

When I first started teaching English 20 years ago, I was the same as you, telling people that any saying I personally didn't use or hear was trash and that no one ever used it. But then I moved to Japan and started meeting English speakers from all over the world. Aussies, Kiwis, Canucks, South Africans, and so on. I quickly realized that phrases I considered old fashioned in US English were still in common use in other dialects of English, and vise versa. Nowadays I try to teach more rounded lessons, telling people things like "This idiom isn't so common in UK English, but you will hear it a lot of you go to the West Coast of America" or things like that. I would suggest you do the same.

Your actual lesson was good and I think learners of English could benefit from it. But I just don't like your prescriptive command "never use this phrase".

BTW, one common one — again, from the midwest US — that I didn't hear you mention is "It's raining sheets" or "It's coming down in sheets", used when you get those downpours from storms .

[ddd]

Thank you, your video is very useful. As a Chinese student, I used to regard "it rains cats and dogs" as a common sentence of native English speakers.

[andybaker]

Being a native English speaker, I didn't come here to learn English, but as this video was recommended, I thought I'd take a look anyway! The strange thing is, I would never use "When it rains, it pours" to describe many positive events, only negative ones. Similarly, "It never rains, but it pours", again, negative events only. I guess it relates to pouring rain generally being a somewhat negative weather event, except following a particularly dry spell when it might be good for the garden!

[duosimeng]

I'm so glad I watched your video. One of my students wrote me an email this morning and said "when it rains, it pours" in Chinese (well, I teach Chinese and she is learning Chinese), but it was a literal translation of the sentence and the Chinese equivalent (倾盆大雨）doesn't have the same meaning as in English, so I was really confused why the student retrieved such an irrelevant phrase:) So interesting!

[ferencnorberttoth]

I"m not a native speaker. That idiom: It"s raining cats and dogs' I learnt it at a school ... When I used it in ireland they understood me. When I said 'Just a little rain", they got it. It is a good video to improve our vocabulary.. Anyway I like the original. It's raining cats and dogs. :) It"s pouring down. Good!

Thank you, I have new words.

[jatinprasad]

Just wanna say one word "AWESOME". Really, the way you teach is marvelous.

[natureluc]

I've never experienced a situation like "i'ts raining sideways" nor "the heavens opened" fortunately. But i did hear "it's overcast." thanks for this lesson .

[faridehasani]

It was sunny in the morning yesterday, but then the heavens opened. Thank you. I like the expression "The heavens opened"

[JK-elwy]

Not to forget, of course we can feel "under the weather..." one day and "right as rain" the next one... Have just come across your video and love the way you teach!

[maggie]

I like "the heavens opened" and "it's trying to rain".
Those two phrases for me are full of pictures and fresh.
And "when it rains, it pours" reminds me a Chinese phrase in similar bad situation;"屋漏偏逢連夜雨"; it is literally saying " the roof of the house has been broken while it has been raining overnight for consecutive days".
Love and thanks for your video.
Maggie from Taiwan.☺

[lutchbizin]

I love all the expressions you teach including the one you reject 'it's raining cats and dogs'. True, you don't hear it as often these days, but it's the kind of expression that comes, stops being used for a while and then it comes back on again.

[silviacostanzo]

"When It rains it pours" in Italian is "Piove sul bagnato" (It rains over wet) but we use it just with a negative sense.

[juansebastiancamacho]

I have found out lots of new oportunities to start an online bussines amid this quarentine time. When It rains, it pours!
Thanks for all of these useful expression you've taught us. Regards from Colombia Papa.

[rukiaabukar]

At the beganing of this of this year, 2020, I traveled to another country for holiday and also training programs. Once I attended the first class, the Authority announced lock down in and out of the country. My program stopped there, meanwhile I was not allowed to go back to my country due to travel ban. At that time everything was raining and pouring. However, It was blessing in disguise. I started reading more and watching science documentaries which I can say, they were all very crucial to my life and for sure I will not get a time to cover them if I would go back to my country due to job demanding. Now I am attaining lots of goals and some of them already accomplished.