# It is spitting. vs. It is sprinkling. vs. It is drizzling.  (BE vs. AE)



## zaffy

In Polish we have a verb that describes the very beginning of rain, that is, you can see a drop of rain here and there. For example, just one drop falls onto your head, then, after a few seconds you feel another drop falling on your hand. Now, it looks like there is an equivalent of that verb in BE, that is, ' to be spitting'. Longman says another word for this is to "drizzle", which is a mistake, I believe. Drizzle is a light continuous rain, not just drops of rain, isn't it? So what do I say in AE? How about "It is sprinkling"?

It is spitting. vs. It is sprinkling. vs. It is drizzling.


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## heypresto

Just to confirm you're right about spitting and drizzling in BE. I can't speak for our AE-speaking friends.


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## zaffy

heypresto said:


> Just to confirm you're right about spitting and drizzling in BE. I can't speak for our AE-speaking friends.



And how do you sense the difference between drizzling and sprinkling? Do use you 'sprinkle' in BE in such context?


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## heypresto

No. We pretty much only use 'sprinkle' when referring to what a garden/lawn sprinkler does:






Or when we sprinkle sugar and other powdery stuff on food.


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## Hermione Golightly

I've never heard 'sprinkling' for rain, only snow.
I agree that 'spitting' is often the start of rain and 'drizzling; is a continuous fine rain. We can drizzle liquids onto food too, for example truffle oil onto pasta or lemon juice onto lemon cake.


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## zaffy

Hermione Golightly said:


> I've never heard 'sprinkling' for rain, only snow.



Longman says it is AE. Yet, it also looks like drizzling, not spitting. So there comes the question again.  What do AE speakers say for BE spitting with rain?


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## Hermione Golightly

Have you looked it up in the WR dictionary? I'm sure there are previous threads. If not, somebody from the East coast will be around soon.


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## Loob

Here's a previous thread for you: Spitting in AE? [light rain]

(It seems that _It's sprinkling_ does work in AmE, but it looks as though _sprinkling _is heavier than_ drizzling..._)


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## JulianStuart

Loob said:


> Here's a previous thread for you: Spitting in AE? [light rain]
> 
> (It seems that _It's sprinkling_ does work in AmE, but it looks as though _sprinkling _is heavier than_ drizzling..._)


I'm not sure how representative I am but for me the tiny drops of drizzle come down slower than normal rain, but faster than the droplets in fog, which don't come down  Sprinkling is drops of rain coming down at normal, fast, speed but not many of them.  We also have hat the local weather people call "light rain mist" that seems to be between mist/fog and drizzle  coming down slower than drizzle but quite a lot of it


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## Loob

I've just found another thread: It's starting to sprinkle. Light rain, drizzle, precipitation..


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## kentix

Post #24 by Ms Missy in Loob's linked thread is a pretty good description of the difference between sprinkling and drizzling in AE. Julian's #9 in this thread is good, too. But, I would add that you can go straight from sprinkling to raining. Not every rainstorm has a drizzling phase. Drizzling is slow, steady, light rain for extended periods of time. In my mind, it also implies a lack of significant wind. Drizzle is like white noise, it's a steady calm sound in the background.

A few full-size drops here and there without getting everything immediately soaking wet is sprinkling. It could turn into drizzle or rain (sometimes in just a few seconds) or it could disappear.

I would describe spitting as something you might see in a boat on the ocean or at the top of a mountain with lots of wind.


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## zaffy

kentix said:


> A few full-size drops here and there without getting everything immediately soaking wet is sprinkling. It could turn into drizzle or rain (sometimes in just a few seconds) or it could disappear.



Hmmm, looks like native AE speakers sense a drizzle and a sprinkle differently. You say a drizzle is heavier, more intense than a sprinkle and Parla, in another thread, says a drizzle is lighter than a sprinkle.



Parla said:


> I've never heard "spitting" in association with rain. _Sprinkling _for a light rain, yes —also _drizzling_ for a very light rain, so light that you're not quite sure whether to open your umbrella. ("Is it raining out?" "Not really. It's just drizzling.")


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## kentix

I didn't say it was heavier, I said it was steadier.

A sprinkle is ephemeral. It can sprinkle for 25 seconds and you might only get hit with a few drops. They can be really big drops or small drops, but they tend to be widely spaced. Drizzle is much more like real rain. It's steadily coming down and gets everything wet. But if it's very light and misty it might take some time to feel completely wet. It doesn't make sense to talk about a few seconds of drizzle. It can sprinkle for a few seconds but drizzle is an ongoing process.


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## zaffy

Yeah, but Parla says a drizzle is so light that you are not even sure whether to open an umbrella or not and you say a drizzle is more like a real rain during which everything gets wet, so, from what you're saying, I believe, a drizzle would make you use an umbrella, would it?


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## JulianStuart

zaffy said:


> Hmmm, looks like native AE speakers sense a drizzle and a sprinkle differently. You say a drizzle is heavier, more intense than a sprinkle and Parla, in another thread, says a drizzle is lighter than a sprinkle.


A sprinkle is real rain drops (normal size) coming down at normal speed,  but not many of them and only for a short time, while drizzle is a lot of little ones coming relatively down slowly and often for long periods of time The nomenclature boundary between "light rain mist" and "light drizzle" is, well, foggy

For me, none of these names is affected by what comes before or after or where in a sequence they arrive.  That is determined by the weather pattern.


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## Roxxxannne

kentix said:


> I didn't say it was heavier, I said it was steadier.
> 
> A sprinkle is ephemeral. It can sprinkle for 25 seconds and you might only get hit with a few drops. They can be really big drops or small drops, but they tend to be widely spaced. Drizzle is much more like real rain. It's steadily coming down and gets everything wet. But if it's very light and misty it might take some time to feel completely wet. It doesn't make sense to talk about a few seconds of drizzle. It can sprinkle for a few seconds but drizzle is an ongoing process.


I agree with Kentix, and add that 'spitting' is extremely light intermittent rain, more ephemeral than a sprinkle. I wouldn't bother to look for a rainbow when it's spitting, but I would look for one when it's sprinkling (and the sun's out).


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## heypresto

I think you'll have to accept that one person's _drizzle_ is another person's _sprinkle_ is another person's _rain_. Whatever you call it when caught in it without a brolly or anywhere near some cover, you'll still get wet. Either slightly and slowly or very and quickly. 

In other words, I really don't think it matters.

Of course, when you're telling your friends about it later, you will have got soaked to the skin in a downpour of biblical proportions.


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## zaffy

JulianStuart said:


> A sprinkle is real rain drops (normal size) coming down at normal speed,  but not many of them and only for a short time, while drizzle is a lot of little ones coming relatively down slowly and often for long periods of time



Julian, you are a Britishman living in the US  So you must be familiar with BE spitting and would you say it is the same as a sprinkle in AE or simply there is no equivalent of spitting in AE?


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## JulianStuart

heypresto said:


> In other words, I really don't think it matters.


  


heypresto said:


> Of course, when you're telling your friends about it later, you will have got soaked to the skin in a downpour of biblical proportions.


I didnt think I'd be able to pass along this little gem but since you've raised the topic:


> The term has been applied with some justification to a projected once-in-a-200-year storm in California known as the ARkStorm. This was extrapolated by scientists at the United States Geological Survey in 2011, based on storm in 1861/2 that dumped three metres of precipitation in 43 days.


 (~120 inches)
Source: Weatherwatch: rain of 'biblical proportions' may not be hyperbole


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## JulianStuart

zaffy said:


> Julian, you are a Britishman living in the US  So you must be familiar with BE spitting and would you say it is the same as a sprinkle in AE or simply there is no equivalent of spitting in AE?


I heard spitting (when I lived in the currently named UK)  and as I recall it's closer to sprinkling than to drizzle, mizzle or light rain mist.  The "bits of spit" are normal sized raindrops, but not many of them   Or, in another way, they are few and far between!


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## heypresto

JulianStuart said:


> I didnt think I'd be able to pass along this little gem but since you've raised the topic:



Interesting. Thanks.



JulianStuart said:


> mizzle


Don't get me started on 'mizzle'.


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## zaffy

Ok. Problem solved    Anyways, how do we use BE spitting and AE sprinkling naturally? Say some people are sitting in a garden, having some coffee. The weather is worsening and all of a sudden some of them feels a drop of rain on their head. Then another person feels the same.

BE:
A: Is it just me or is it spitting?
B: Yeah, it definitely is. We'd better get inside.

AE:
A: Is it just me or is it sprinkling?
B: Yeah, it definitely is. We'd better get inside

Are those natural?


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## Roxxxannne

A: I just felt a raindrop.  Is it starting to rain?
B: It's just spitting.
A: Oops, there's another one.  It's definitely sprinkling, not just spitting.
B: I felt just the one drop.  It's only spitting.  
<thunder crashes nearby>
A & B, both cursing: It's pouring!!!


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## kentix

A little more natural for AE would be:

_Is it just me or is it starting to sprinkle?_


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## JulianStuart

Roxxxannne said:


> A: I just felt a raindrop.  Is it starting to rain?
> B: It's just spitting.
> A: Oops, there's another one.  It's definitely sprinkling, not just spitting.
> B: I felt just the one drop.  It's only spitting.
> <thunder crashes nearby>
> A & B, both cursing: It's pouring!!!


I can see a useful distinction between spitting and sprinkling - in terms of how far apart the raindrops are


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## RM1(SS)

Hermione Golightly said:


> I've never heard 'sprinkling' for rain, only snow.


Other way round for me.


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## zaffy

kentix said:


> A little more natural for AE would be:
> 
> _Is it just me or is it starting to sprinkle?_



And in BE? Which do I say?

_Is it just me or is it starting to spit?
Is it just me or is it spitting?_


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## heypresto

zaffy said:


> And in BE? Which do I say?


I'd say 'Is it just me or is it starting to rain?'


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## zaffy

heypresto said:


> I'd say 'Is it just me or is it starting to rain?'



So, "be spitting" doesn't sound natural in questions, right? It used in affirmatives like "It looks like it is spitting"


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## heypresto

I don't know. It's just that when you feel a drop of rain on your head (and the weather is worsening) you don't know whether it will just be a brief spell of spitting, or a longer spell of drizzle, or maybe both, leading to a downpour of biblical proportions. So I'd cover all possibilities and say 'Is it starting to rain?'


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## zaffy

Roxxxannne said:


> A: I just felt a raindrop.  Is it starting to rain?
> B: It's just spitting.
> A: Oops, there's another one.  It's definitely sprinkling, not just spitting.



And what is the BE version of that utterance as BE doesn't use 'sprinkle' in such context?


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## JulianStuart

zaffy said:


> And what is the BE version of that utterance as BE doesn't use 'sprinkle' in such context?


I think yourt quest for precision is admirable but ultimately futile   You seem to be looking for black and white/hard and fast distinctions between AE and BE but basing them (perforce) on the input of only a few members of a forum.  It could well be that some BE speakers might use sprinkle/sprinkling.  I grew up with BE and never heard spitting, so even within AE or BE there will be differences of social or geographical origin.  Any difference in your comprehension will be hard to pin down while for your active vocabulary - "starting to rain" will never be misinterpreted


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## heypresto

JulianStuart said:


> Any difference in your comprehension will be hard to pin down while for your active vocabulary - "starting to rain" will never be misinterpreted


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## kentix

JulianStuart said:


> Any difference in your comprehension will be hard to pin down while for your active vocabulary - "starting to rain" will never be misinterpreted


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## Myridon

JulianStuart said:


> even within AE or BE there will be differences of social or geographical origin


I can't remember ever hearing anyone use "spitting" to refer to rain, but the other American posters above seem to be familiar with it.


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## kentix

There are 17 examples in the COCA AE database (which isn't a whole lot). Here's the first one.

_Largely drained of fury but still *spitting* *rain*, former Hurricane Irma's gusty remnants snarled air travel..._

That's how I think of it - as light or fairly light rain mixed with wind, so it's coming at you in different amounts and in different directions and could even be coming horizontally.

Here's one more example:
_In her expensive black nylons, she walked in the *spitting* *rain* down the dirty Seattle sidewalk toward home._


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## heypresto

Just to add to the confusion, there's also 'to spot' with rain:

From the WR Dictionary:  _(intransitive) to rain slightly; spit_


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## kentix

After posting those examples I realized they both require the word rain, which is not required with sprinkle in AE.

_It's sprinkling out(side).  _The word rain is not needed.
_It's spitting out(side). 
It's spitting rain (outside). _


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## JulianStuart

Then some (or at least one) use sputtering 
Lots of sputtering, not much rain today in Menlo Park


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## John Roberts

Hermione Golightly said:


> I've never heard 'sprinkling' for rain, only snow.
> I agree that 'spitting' is often the start of rain and 'drizzling; is a continuous fine rain. We can drizzle liquids onto food too, for example truffle oil onto pasta or lemon juice onto lemon cake.


In AUS-E, we use all three.  'Sprinkling' entails continuous very light rain drops falling relatively close together (but further apart than those of the misty rain we get in the mountains) and at intermittent intervals, sometimes a prelude to heavier rain.  'Spitting' rain means heavier sporadic drops well-spaced out, generally occurring in warmer weather — these are the drops that splash one at a time on a car's windscreen and can be heard pinging when they hit tin roofs.


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## John Roberts

John Roberts said:


> In AUS-E, we use all three.  'Sprinkling' entails continuous very light rain drops falling relatively close together (but further apart than those of the misty rain we get in the mountains) and at intermittent intervals, sometimes a prelude to heavier rain.  'Spitting' rain means heavier sporadic drops well-spaced out, generally occurring in warmer weather — these are the drops that splash one at a time on a car's windscreen and can be heard pinging when they hit tin roofs.


There is, of course, 'spotting' — meaning intermittent light drops not as spaced apart as 'spitting' rain.


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## PaulQ

Hermione Golightly said:


> I've never heard 'sprinkling' for rain,


I've heard it used as a noun for a random distribution of light showers: "There will be a sprinkling of rain in the South", but, as you point out, when those showers start, they are "showers; light rain, etc." But this is the same "sprinkling" as "sprinkling sugar on doughnuts, etc."


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