# Pleuvoir comme vache qui pisse



## vegangirl

Bonjour

Comment dit-on "Il pleut comme vache qui pisse" / "Il pleut à vache qui pisse" en anglais ?

Je propose : It’s rainning so much.

Les phrases "pleuvoir comme vache qui pisse" et "pleuvoir à vache qui pisse" veulent dire la même chose. Ce sont des expression et c’est du langage familier. Cela veut dire qu’il pleut énormément. Il pleut à verse et il pleut vraiment beaucoup. Il pleut à ne pas mettre un pied dehors.

Merci


----------



## Pipsy

It's raining cats and dogs.


----------



## pyan

Pipsy said:


> It's raining cats and dogs.


This is the most common.  
Other expressions:
"It's raining stair-rods". 
"It's bucketing down."
"It's pissing hard" is quite common and considered a bit vulgar by some.    All these expressions are used in informal situations.


----------



## blueplanet

You can also say 'it's raining buckets'.


----------



## spiaggiaccio

You could say:
It's pissing rain.

This is a little rude and more likely to be heard in the UK.  

More polite would be:
It's raining cats and dogs.


----------



## highcs

pyan said:


> This is the most common.
> Other expressions:
> "It's raining stair-rods".
> "It's bucketing down."
> "It's pissing hard" is quite common and considered a bit vulgar by some.    All these expressions are used in informal situations.



All of these are not common in the U.S. - do you know your audience?


----------



## Gargamelle

vegangirl said:


> Bonjour
> 
> Comment dit-on "Il pleut comme vache qui pisse" / "Il pleut à vache qui pisse" en anglais ?
> 
> Je propose : It’s rainning so much.
> 
> Les phrases "pleuvoir comme vache qui pisse" et "pleuvoir à vache qui pisse" veulent dire la même chose. Ce sont des expression et c’est du langage familier. Cela veut dire qu’il pleut énormément. Il pleut à verse et il pleut vraiment beaucoup. Il pleut à ne pas mettre un pied dehors.
> 
> Merci


 
In the USA, we say, "it's really coming down!"  That's familier, but not vulgar.

G


----------



## johndot

It’s chucking it down; it’s a cloudburst; the Heavens have opened.
 
And not a _p_ in sight.


----------



## highcs

My vote still goes to:
It's raining cats and dogs
...
as it stays with the animal metaphor....


----------



## Micia93

highcs said:


> My vote still goes to:
> It's raining cats and dogs
> ...
> as it stays with the animal metaphor....


 

I have read it had become completely obsolete 
(in the forum for sure, but I can't find out the thread!)


----------



## Tegs

No, it's not obsolete, but "raining cats and dogs" is generally something my mum would say - I would not use it myself when talking to people of my own age. I'd generally use something like: "it's really pouring" or "it's lashing down" (I think the latter may be commonly said in Ireland only - I haven't heard it much in the UK)


----------



## boterham

johndot said:


> And not a _p_ in sight.


 

I don't get that one . Can someone explain please?


----------



## Tegs

boterham said:


> I don't get that one . Can someone explain please?


 

I think he is referring to the fact that he is offering alternatives to the word _pissing _and giving less rude options!  _Peeing_ is another way of saying pissing in English hence _"p" = pee_

Hope that clarifies things!


----------



## boterham

Tegs said:


> I think he is referring to the fact that he is offering alternatives to the word _pissing _and giving less rude options!  _Peeing_ is another way of saying pissing in English hence _"p" = pee_
> 
> Hope that clarifies things!


 
Yes, I thought p meant pee here but I couldn't understand why johndot was saying that. I thought it was another way to say that it's raining a lot. Thanks a lot for clarifying


----------



## highcs

Micia93 said:


> I have read it had become completely obsolete
> (in the forum for sure, but I can't find out the thread!)



Maybe I'm just not hip enough!  I still say it....  and I know people who still say it....   as far as I knew it was still in usage!
(Are you all telling me I'm just woefully un-cool and behind the times?!)


----------



## Gargamelle

highcs said:


> Maybe I'm just not hip enough! I still say it.... and I know people who still say it.... as far as I knew it was still in usage!
> (Are you all telling me I'm just woefully un-cool and behind the times?!)


 

I say "raining cats and dogs" too.  In fact, I just said it to my husband (several times!) this morning.  We had thunderstorms here.  But it's not raining at all right now in Ann Arbor.  

Unfortunately, it is raining cats and dog or really coming down or lashing down or raining stair-rods or bucketing down or pissing hard) in Iowa, and they're having floods.

Gargamelle with the weather report


----------



## Tegs

I notice both of you are from the US - maybe over there it is more common? But for me, if someone were to say "cats and dogs" I would expect that that person to be 40 plus...


----------



## johndot

Yes, Tegs, your clarification to boterham of my “not a _p_ in sight” was exactly right. of course; decorum on the forum—that’s my motto!
 
And, boterham, I used punctuation and a new paragraph to separate the synonyms (in the first sentence) from the comment (in the second).


----------



## broglet

I've never heard 'it's pissing hard' but 'it's pissing down' is quite common in the UK. I imagine that it's at the same level of vulgarity (ie slightly vulgar) as vegangirl's original French. Everyone in the UK would know what is meant by 'it's raining cats and dogs' but I haven't heard it used in the past twenty years. As for 'it's raining stair-rods', nobody uses it, few people will have heard it, or heard of it, and even fewer are likely to be familiar with the obsolescent eponymous carpet retainers. If you want to be totally obscure and sound a little learned you could say 'it's diluvial' (meaning like Noah's flood) then nobody except you will know what you are talking about but they may be secretly impressed.


----------



## Padraig

Have any of you ever watched a cow pissing? The remarkable thing is not the amount of liquid coming down (although there is a good flow) but that it seems to go on and on. I mention this not to boast to you of my knowledge of cows, but because there might be a nuance missed: _Il pleut comme vache qui pisse_ might mean a prolonged rainfall as much as a heavy one -- the sort of rain that leaves everything thoroughly drenched.

Francophones?


----------



## Gargamelle

Tegs said:


> I notice both of you are from the US - maybe over there it is more common? But for me, if someone were to say "cats and dogs" I would expect that that person to be 40 plus...


 

As a matter of fact, I _am_ 40 plus....I guess old cats and dogs can't rain new tricks?  Or something like that.  

Given what Padraig said, I think "It's pissing down" would work for a UK audience.  Otherwise "it's really coming down" is my choice.

Gargamelle


----------



## johndot

Thankyou, Padraig! It seems my attempt at ‘decorum on the forum’ has gone totally out of the window!
 
Why not something genteel, like _il pleut des cordes_ ?


----------



## Padraig

johndot said:


> Thankyou, Padraig! It seems my attempt at ‘decorum on the forum’ has gone totally out of the window!
> 
> Why not something genteel, like _il pleut des cordes_ ?



I think that "decorum on the forum" when discussing cows pissing is, if I may put it in such terms, like pissing into the wind. Why take a French expression that is mildly vulgar and sanitize it for Anglophones?

I'd lose the cow, and say _it's pissing down_ or _it's pissing rain._


----------



## gillyfr

French husband says that "comme vache qui pisse" means raining hard and not for a long time, Padraig (but I like your thinking and the image it conjured up was priceless! ). Personally, I'd say, "it's tipping down" in polite company (though I'd opt for a _p_ in regular company).


----------



## Micia93

Padraig said:


> Have any of you ever watched a cow pissing? The remarkable thing is not the amount of liquid coming down (although there is a good flow) but that it seems to go on and on. I mention this not to boast to you of my knowledge of cows, but because there might be a nuance missed: _Il pleut comme vache qui pisse_ might mean a prolonged rainfall as much as a heavy one -- the sort of rain that leaves everything thoroughly drenched.
> 
> Francophones?


 

Yes, I agree with you Padraig
it actually means an everending strong rain !


----------



## broglet

Micia93 said:


> Yes, I agree with you Padraig
> it actually means an everending strong rain !


 tu veux dire 'never ending' je pense (et ce n'est jamais vrai non plus -'prolonged', yes, but 'never ending' would mean that it would never stop, and it always does)


----------



## Micia93

broglet said:


> tu veux dire 'never ending' je pense (et ce n'est jamais vrai non plus -'prolonged', yes, but 'never ending' would mean that it would never stop, and it always does)


 

yes sorry Broglet 
it was some joke of course, I know that rain stops at one moment or another ! 
it's just the *feeling *we have that it will never end in fact !


----------



## La Saboteuse

I know this is old but no one mentioned my favorite:

"It's raining like pouring piss out of a boot."

Not the same image as "comme vache qui pisse" but I like it anyway. It seems bastardized from another saying, "He's so dumb he couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were on the heel."


----------



## Rassie

highcs said:


> All of these are not common in the U.S. - do you know your audience?



Yes, you're right. None of these expressions work. I simply say, "It's pouring".
Well, I'm Australian, and trust, me, 'pouring' almost never happens. but when it does, we do say that. and seriously, people will laugh their heads off if you say 'it's raining cats and dogs'. my friends like to ask 'cat's and dog's WHAT'. You make your own conclusions.


----------



## jscottseptembre

Tegs said:


> I notice both of you are from the US - maybe over there it is more common? But for me, if someone were to say "cats and dogs" I would expect that that person to be 40 plus...



Nah, t'inquiète pas, tu as raison. You definitely wouldn't hear me saying it. 40 and beyond. Comme toi, je dirais, "damn, it's pouring out!"


----------



## curmad

It is in common usage among my acquaintances in Louisiana.

The expression is "It's raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock"

Not only is there a heavy rain, but is so heavy that it is splashing. 

J'aurai cru que cétait une expression bien connue et tout partout.


----------



## Viobi

"Il pleut comme vache qui pisse" really implies a heavy rain, not necessarily an extremely long one.
You can say it when you first notice the rain, even if it's just started and is unlikely to last. You'll never use it unless it's a real downpour, nevermind how long it's been going on.
This sort of rain leaves you _instantly _drenched.

Same with "il tombe des cordes", "il pleut à seaux", "il tombe des hallebardes" (dated), and a few more along the lines of unusual objects falling down from the sky.


----------

