cats and dogs

Question

Hi,It's raining cats and dogs.It's raining heavily.It's raining hard.It's pouring.Do the four sentences mean the same? If not, what is their different meanings?Thank you for your help.

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

They all mean pretty much the same.
CB

Philip · Answer

If it's raining cats and dogs, just don't step in a poodle.<img src="http://www.EnglishForward.com/emoticons/emotion-5.gif"/>

Goodman · Answer

The rain is coming down in buckets
The rain's coming down in sheets

Yoong Liat · Answer

PhilipIf it's raining cats and dogs, just don't step in a poodle.

Why cats and dogs? I know it should be so, but how did it originate? I'm curious.

Tanit · Answer

Yoong LiatWhy cats and dogs? I know it should be so, but how did it originate? I'm curious.

Hi, I'm quoting only a part of a larger text that you can find http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/raining%20cats%20and%20dogs.html.

One supposed origin is that the phrase derives from mythology. Dogs and wolves were attendants to Odin, the *** of storms, and sailors associated them with rain. Witches, who often took the form of their familiars - cats, are supposed to have ridden the wind. Well, some evidence would be nice. There doesn't appear to be any to support this notion.

It has also been suggested that cats and dogs were washed from roofs during heavy weather. This is a widely repeated tale. It got a new lease of life with the e-mail message "Life in the 1500s", which began circulating on the Internet in 1999 ... This is nonsense of course ...

Another suggestion is that 'raining cats and dogs' comes from a version of the French word 'catadoupe', meaning waterfall. Again, no evidence. If the phrase were just 'raining cats', or even if there also existed a French word 'dogadoupe', we might be going somewhere with this one. As there isn't, let's pass this by.
...

The much more probable source of 'raining cats and dogs' is the prosaic fact that, in the filthy streets of 17th/18th century England, heavy rain would occasionally carry along dead animals and other debris. The animals didn't fall from the sky, but the sight of dead cats and dogs floating by in storms could well have caused the coining of this colourful phrase. Jonathan Swift described such an event in his satirical poem 'A Description of a City Shower', ...

As for the original post, I'd add "It's pouring down".

Yoong Liat · Answer

Thanks, Tanit.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you all very much!

cats and dogs

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