|
#1
| |||
| |||
| You fell in love with a person, but when that person turned you down then you started to pay him/her back by telling anybody else badly about him/her. |
|
#2
| |||
| |||
| I think that person is bitter and is a backfighter. |
|
#3
| |||
| |||
| Well, I mean, is it possible to use an idiom to express this situation? |
|
#4
| |||
| |||
| Raining cats and dogs Meaning Raining very heavily. Origin This is an interesting phrase in that, although there's no definitive origin, there are several speculative derivations. Before we get to those, lets get some of the incorrect suggestions out of the way. The phrase seems isn't related to the well-known antipathy between dogs and cats, which is made word in the phrase 'fight like cat and dog'. Aside from the presence of cat and dog in the phrase, there's nothing at all to connect their fighting with raining.In fact, 'raining cats and dogs' only makes sense figuratively and the explanations below that attempt to link the phrase to felines, canines and weather seem rather feeble. Here goes though - take your pick:
"It shall raine ... Dogs and Polecats".Polecats aren't cats as such but the jump between them in linguistic rather than veterinary terms isn't large. In a form more like the current version it appears in Jonathan Swift’s A Complete Collection of Polite and Ingenious Conversation in 1738: "I know Sir John will go, though he was sure it would rain cats and dogs".More likely than any of the versions given above is that this is just a nice descriptive turn of phrase, which doesn't relate to any particular event or practise. There's a similar phrase originating from the North of England - 'raining stair-rods'. No one has gone to the effort of speculating that this is from mythic reports of stairs being carried into the air in storms and falling on gullible peasants. Its just a rather good vivid phrase giving a graphic impression of heavy rain. Another similar phrase is 'raining like pitchforks', the first known reference of which is D. Humphreys' Yankey in England, 1815: "I'll be even with you, if it rains pitchforks - tines downwards." |
![]() |
| Bookmarks |
| Thread Tools | |
| Display Modes | |
| |
Similar Threads | ||||
| Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
| How could I use a word or phrase express...? | lightmake | Editing & Writing Topics | 2 | 29-Sep-2005 23:52 |
| express oneself? | paula | Ask a Teacher | 1 | 31-Aug-2005 12:38 |
| Please make the expression express peoperly in grammar | NewHope | Ask a Teacher | 2 | 22-Aug-2004 03:14 |
| cul de sac / car pooling and express checkout / promiscuous | zeppy | Ask a Teacher | 3 | 02-Jan-2004 18:17 |
| any better way to express this? | paula | Ask a Teacher | 4 | 01-Nov-2003 15:41 |