Apr 29th – Family Circus: Raining Cats & Dogs

Hi everyone,

Today’s comic is Family Circus featuring a popular animal idiom.

Comic Breakdown

Wow!  It’s raining cats and dogs out there!” – Dad

“Goody!  I was hopin’ to get a new puppy!” – Jeffy

What is going on?

Jeffy has misunderstood the popular idiom (figurative expression), “It is raining cats and dogs”, by taking it literally.  He wants a new dog so he thinks it is a good thing.  When someone says that it is, “Raining cats and dogs”, it means that it is raining very heavily. 

Raining Cats & Dogs

The idiom, “Raining cats and dogs”, is a reference to when roofs were made out of straw and other forms of grass.  Cats and dogs would come falling into the house during heavy rain storms.

From the Middle Ages until the late 1800s, most roofs were made out of straw in Europe and North America.

Many rodents, such as mice and rats, lived on the straw roofs so cats and dogs were sent up to chase and get rid of them.  When it rained very heavily, the roofs often came down bringing the cats and dogs down into the house.  It literally rained cats and dogs.

Today’s images are from here, here, here, here, and here.