# It's raining cats and dogs!



## Denitsa

*It's raining cats and dogs!*
Per favore, aiutatemi tradurre questo in italiano! Io sapevo almeno due espressioni ma non me ne ricordo nemmeno di una.


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## toubar

sta piovendo a catinelle = sta piovendo a dirotto


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## Pbracc

Ok, i removed my answer because Toubar's one is way better and more complete, thanks Toubar


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## DDT

toubar said:
			
		

> sta piovendo a catinelle = sta piovendo a dirotto



Correct, but I'd suggest a more plain "piove a catinelle / piove a dirotto" or "sta diluviando"

DDT


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## DiFossa

Ciao a tutti!

Allora...vorrei sapere come si traddurebbe "it's raining cats and dogs."  Grazie di tutto!  Siate molto bravi e questa forma e` stupenda!


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## Jana337

Ciao,

direi "piove a catinelle" oppure "sta diluviando". La seconda mi piace pazzescamente. 

Jana


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## TimeHP

> direi "piove a catinelle" oppure "sta diluviando"


 
Esatto.
Oppure:
_viene giù come Dio la manda_
_piove a dirotto_

E, a proposito di pioggia, forse conoscete questi modi di dire:
_Piove, governo ladro!_
_Piove sempre sul bagnato_

_Ciao_


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## Alfry

Ho trovato anche un altro thread sullo stesso argomento, per quanti possano esserne interessati


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## lsp

Is _piove a catinelle_ old-fashioned? I used it and my friends giggled...


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## Elisa68

How old is your friend? I wouldn't giggle....Questo fa di me una vecchia signora?


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## Saoul

No Elisa! Don't worry! Questo non fa di te una vecchia signora!

I think it's quite common... piove a catinelle... we say it every day!
(if it's raining obviously! )

DiFossa, maybe your friends giggled because it's kind of a funny expression... 

Ciao
Saoul


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## lsp

Elisa68 said:
			
		

> How old is your friend? I wouldn't giggle....Questo fa di me una vecchia signora?


Anzi, they're all younger than I am (not much, I'm not _that_ old ), but that's how they made _me_ feel, too. All Romans in this case, too, incidentally


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## nefer_tari

In my language (Italian) it minds "piove a catenele", "piove forte",

I would like to know if in spoken English you use this expression

Good by


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## TimLA

Yes, it's a well-known phrase.

Here's another thread with a wealth of information.


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## MünchnerFax

nefer_tari said:


> "piove a catinelle"


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## nefer_tari

Thank you very much, you are great.

I needed that you show to me.

great a tante grazie ancora


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## vincenzochiaravalle

I thought it would be nice to report, briefly, on the origin of this phrase. According to the most plausible reconstruction, the idiom can probably be traced back to the filthy streets of 17th/18th century England, where, due to the absence of sewers, heavy rain would occasionally accumulate, causing stray animals to drown. Their corpses would then be carried along by the flow...


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## Necsus

Se ne è parlato abbastanza anche QUI.


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## TimLA

Ciao ragazzi!
Un vecchio thread, una nuova domanda.

Ieri sera stavo parlando con un toscano della pioggia tremenda qui a Los Angeles nei ultimi giorni.
Durante la conversazione ha detto la parola "zuppa" tre o quattro volte,
e dal contesto mi sembrava che indicasse "tutto era bagnato/umedo" "un diluvio", ecc.

È possibile che in Toscana, o tutta l'Italia, si usa "zuppa" per descrivere una pioggia staordinaria?
O forse sbaglio, e parlava del suo menu?
(È proprietario di un ristorante)

In inglese diciamo "soupy" per descrivere "nebbia", non "pioggia".

Grazie!


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## Necsus

TimLA said:


> È possibile che in Toscana, o tutta l'Italia, si usa "zuppa" per descrivere una pioggia staordinaria?
> O forse sbaglio, e parlava del suo menu?
> (È proprietario di un ristorante)


Ciao, Tim! Tutto è possibile, senza conoscere il resto della frase in cui ha detto la parola _zuppa_, ma ho il sospetto che si trattasse del femminile dell'aggettivo _zuppo _(DeMauro):
CO completamente bagnato, inzuppato, fradicio: _essere tutto z. di pioggia_, _avere le calze zuppe d’acqua._


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## TimLA

Grazie!
Ecco il problema! I miei orrechi!
"Zuppo" sinonimo di "bagnato" su dizionario WR!
Come sempre, ti ringrazio!


Ma comunque, la zuppa era buona...


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## Juri

Fatto trenta, facciamo anche trentuno!
Traggo dal dimenticatoio la singolare espressione dialettale veneta:
_Basta che no piovi strangolini!_ (=spranghe di ferro, iron bars))


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## Einstein

Just a comment on the original phrase, _it's raining cats and dogs_. Growing up in Britain (1950s and '60s) I never heard the expression used seriously and it was seen as rather old-fashioned and the kind of thing foreigners learn to show that they know the language.
However, I happened to say this in the language school where I was working in Milan and immediately aroused protests from an American and a South African, who said it sounded normal.

In Britain the more usual one nowadays is "It's coming down in buckets".


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## london calling

Juri said:


> Fatto trenta, facciamo anche trentuno!
> Traggo dal dimenticatoio la singolare espressione dialettale veneta:
> _Basta che no piovi strangolini!_ (=spranghe di ferro, iron bars))


In BE, that would be it's coming down in stair-rods!


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## -STEVE-

Another expression a heard:
"Viene giù a secchiate". Unfortunately, I really have not the faintest idea how to translate it into English


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## Einstein

london calling said:


> In BE, that would be it's coming down in stair-rods!


Yes, I thought of that one too, but wasn't sure how well-known it was. But from stair-rods and buckets we also have:
- It's bucketing down!
- It's stair-rodding down!

Maybe someone will ask what stair-rods are....


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## TimLA

Einstein said:


> Maybe someone will ask what stair-rods are....


 
A picture is worth a thousand "horizontal brass rods permanently attached to the stairs to hold stair rugs in place".


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## Einstein

Well done Tim, and in spite of what you say your explanation is nearly as good as the picture.


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## london calling

-STEVE- said:


> Another expression a heard:
> "Viene giù a secchiate". Unfortunately, I really have not the faintest idea how to translate it into English


That's Einstein's "buckets/bucketing down"!
I've just thought of another one:

_It's coming down in sheets._


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## Necsus

Have you seen first posts in the thread I linked in my post #18? They are about rain & co.


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## bibiga

Quale frase, secondo voi, potrebbe tradurre meglio "piove che Dio la manda"? C'è qualche frase in inglese che abbia un riferimento a Dio o alla Bibbia?
Non c'è contesto. E' una curiosità. Grazie mille


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## vincenzochiaravalle

In inglese ci sono tantissime espressioni idiomatiche che fanno riferimento alla Bibbia, direi molte più che in italiano corrente. La cultura biblica è molto diffusa nel mondo anglosassone, ed è penetrata nel linguaggio più che in italiano. Però non mi viene in mente nulla che riguardi la pioggia abbondante. *It's raining cats and dogs* è la più comune (infatti è data come corrispondente dell'espressione _Piove come Dio la manda_ anche nel vocabolario WR). Si può dire qualcosa del tipo, *It's Noah's Flood out there!* ma non è una frase idiomatica particolare: traduce semplicemente l'italiano, _*Fuori c'è il Diluvio Universale!*_


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## Tegs

I agree with Vincenzo - I can't think of any English idioms about rain and God, but you could certainly make one up, and like Vincenzo I'd also go with the Noah reference. e.g. "Looks like we'll need to get the Ark out today".


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## london calling

Well Tegs,  'The heavens have opened' has a vaguely religious tone to it.


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## rrose17

london calling said:


> Well Tegs,  'The heavens have opened' has a vaguely religious tone to it.


The heavens opening was exactly what crossed my mind, too. I suppose something very close to the Italian might be "the rain was heaven sent" but this expression (to be heaven sent) can be used for many different things, a person, a movie, a letter, and means that they are fortuitous, coming at exactly the right time or simply very much needed.


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## johngiovanni

I often still say (among friends) "It's pissing it down".  So I was amused recently when I came across "'Dio sta pisciando,” dicevamo sempre da bambini quando pioveva".
In Scotland it might be "blowing a hooley and stotting off the pavements".


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## london calling

It's coming down in sheets /stair-rods.


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## Tegs

london calling said:


> Well Tegs,  'The heavens have opened' has a vaguely religious tone to it.


 I had totally forgotten about that one


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## You little ripper!

johngiovanni said:


> So I was amused recently when I came across "'Dio sta pisciando,” dicevamo sempre da bambini quando pioveva".


S/He clearly has a chronic condition of polyuria.


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## bibiga

london calling said:


> Well Tegs,  'The heavens have opened' has a vaguely religious tone to it.



Ecco, pensavo a qualcosa del genere. Grazie a tutti


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## giginho

Ragazzi, mai sentito dire: "Dio sta pisciando"......veramente mi risulta proprio nuova, sebbene comprensibile.

About "cats and dogs".....well, I really thought it was something for students or for some old chap form the 800th Century, but it seems I was wrong and it 's still in use


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## Tegs

Have a look at Einstein's comment earlier in the thread: 



Einstein said:


> Just a comment on the original phrase, _it's raining cats and dogs_. Growing up in Britain (1950s and '60s) I never heard the expression used seriously and it was seen as rather old-fashioned and the kind of thing foreigners learn to show that they know the language.
> However, I happened to say this in the language school where I was working in Milan and immediately aroused protests from an American and a South African, who said it sounded normal.
> 
> In Britain the more usual one nowadays is "It's coming down in buckets".



So, over here, _buckets_ rather than cats and dogs


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## You little ripper!

_It's raining cats and dogs_ is rather passé here. _It's bucketing down!_ is much more common.


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## london calling

You little ripper! said:


> _It's raining cats and dogs_ is rather passé here. _It's bucketing down!_ is much more common.


Same here.


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## johngiovanni

"It's bucketing down" is also much more common hereabouts.
The "stair-rodding" one I remember from my youth  - brilliant metaphor - but a lot of people nowadays would not know about stair-rods.
What an interesting thread!
Just to add to the collection: "It's sheeting it down" or "coming down in sheets" - as LC suggested.


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## You little ripper!

johngiovanni said:


> The "stair-rodding" one I remember from my youth - brilliant metaphor - but a lot of people nowadays would not know about stair-rods.


I remember stair rods, but have never heard the expression in relation to heavy rain.


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## Tegs

I've not heard the stair-rods expression outside of this thread


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## rrose17

Just to add that cats and dogs is still a very common expression here (would my kids use it? I'd have to ask) and I've never heard of bucketing down, or stair-rods for that matter.


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## johngiovanni

"It's really throwing it down" is also often used.


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## Einstein

Another fairly old one, less expressive, but I'd say it's still used, is "It's pouring!" or "It's pouring with rain!"


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