Bonjour Laura – j’aime bien votre site et j’adore les leçons. Je suis un “beginner” donc excusez-moi pour les mauvaise orthographe et fautes de grammaire. Alors, léxpression “raining cats and dogs” vient d’angleterre. Il y a longtemps, ume maison avait construit avec un toit de chaume. Les chiens et les chats habitaient dans le toit. Donc, quand il pleuvait, les chiens et chats viennaient en dehors de toit, et le gens disais “It’s raining cats and dogs”. donc voila quoi, merci…
July 13, 2007 at 11:56 am
(2) Ken (pronounced like the film festival) says:
I agree that “Il pleut des cordes” is a charming expression, like so much in French, but I grew up with “cats and dogs.” Yes, it’s not very logical, but so much in English isn’t. Take, par example, our answers to negative questions. My daughter, as a small child, grew up in Japan, where negative questions are answered (logically) in the negative. So, when a classmate in the cafeteria says “You don’t mind if I borrow the salt, do you?” she answers “Yes. I don’t mind.”
July 13, 2007 at 12:16 pm
(3) Tammy Abaku says:
Bonjour Laura,
A mon avis la phrase “il pleut des corde” qui signfie “it’s raining cats and dogs a utilize peut-etre parceque, les chats et les chienes ce sont des animeaux domestique, Ils sont utile quand ils vivrent comme la pluie. C’est quant il pleur que on peux avoir l’easu. Mais les animeaux les plus part de les animeaux l’eau sont utiles quand ils sont mort comme le poisson.
Merci
Tammy
Nigeria
July 13, 2007 at 12:19 pm
(4) George says:
Laura j’aime bien cette phrase surtout en anglais, Je suis ecossais!On dit que peut-etre l’origine c’est aux sorcieres et les chats quand ils creent un orage. Mais les chiens je ne sais pas.
July 13, 2007 at 3:28 pm
(5) David Parkin says:
I translated ‘il pleut des cordes’ as ‘it is raining stairods’
‘Frogs’ would be likely to encourage anti French comments.
Stairods were used to secure carpets on staircases
July 13, 2007 at 3:44 pm
(6) Jo says:
Il y a aussi l’expression normande – bon pas tres elegante mais bien patois: pleuvoir une pisee de chat.
July 14, 2007 at 3:59 pm
(7) Robert Leon says:
J’ai écrit l’expression dans un courriel à mon copain québécois et ça tombait sans connaisance. C’est comme le mot “courriel” en France. le Français idiotisme est vraiment idiot!
July 14, 2007 at 5:32 pm
(8) Kathleen says:
A Quebec, j’ai entendu l’expression “il pleut a boire debout” .
July 15, 2007 at 12:47 am
(9) MIETEK says:
Cats and dogs were supposed to be washed from roofs during heavy weather. This is a widely repeated tale. It got a lease of life with the message “Life in the 1500s”, which began circulating on the Internet in 1999. Here’s the relevant part of that:
I’ll describe their houses a little. You’ve heard of thatch roofs, well that’s all they were. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. They were the only place for the little animals to get warm. So all the pets; dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs, all lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery so sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Thus the saying, “it’s raining cats and dogs.”
This is nonsense of course. It hardly needs debunking, but, lest there be any doubt
July 15, 2007 at 7:17 pm
(10) Gilberto says:
Saluy Laura,
J’aime bien tous les expressions des les langues, parce que on apprendre beaucoup choses bizarres. En espagnol, plus exactement en Colombie, on dit “il pleut des épouses” (si tu es femme au le contraire si tu es homme)
July 16, 2007 at 6:01 am
(11) oua oua miaou says:
Il pleut chats-z’et-chiens !
July 17, 2007 at 11:38 am
(12) Elizabeth says:
The comment above about the animals slipping off the roof is close to what I’ve heard as the origin, but it was more that if it rained enough the roof would develop holes and the animals would slip through onto the people in the house.
For me, it makes sense as when it’s really raining hard and I’m insufficiently covered up, it can feel as if cat and dog claws are hitting my arms and face.
July 17, 2007 at 5:49 pm
(13) Chris ( Chrisanversois) says:
Hi Laura:
Yes it sounds weird, though in Dutch we often say when the weather is very bad, like strong wind and raining very hard ” it’s no weather to send a dog through it “.When I related this to the English, maybe they also mean that in such severe rain it even no weather for cats and dogs to be outside…
July 23, 2007 at 9:55 am
(14) Steve MacLellan says:
Laura, what a wonderful French site you have. Maybe even a slow learner like me has a chance (I read your stuff regularly).
If I may, I’d like to pass on what I’ve heard in the past regarding “raining cats and dogs”. It comes from the middle ages (old English) where most homes were made with the roof thatched with material from the woods. This made the roof a great place for small animals to sleep and live in. When a hard pouring rain would come, these unfortunate creatures would literally be washed off the roof onto the ground. Thus the expression “raining cats and dogs” would be used to underline just how hard it was raining, as viewed from somebody looking out a window and seeing the animals falling past.
August 11, 2007 at 8:03 am
(15) D says:
I don’t think you are correct on this one. Il pleut des cordes, I believe refers to musical chords..the sound of the rain and not ropes!!
November 16, 2007 at 12:04 pm
(16) Nathaniel Barber says:
There’s another English (or American, at any rate) equivalent to “cats and dogs” quite similar to the “comme les vaches qui pissent;” it’s “like a cow pissin’ on a flat rock.” “Il pleut des cordes” seems to correspond well, idiomatically, to “it’s raining buckets” or “it’s coming down in sheets.” (If you’re pairing up inanimate metaphors, anyway.) “Deluge, cloudburst, waterfall” just don’t have that idiomatic oomph.
Is it just me, or is it common that when we “cross over” to the region of the brain where we non-native speakers store our foreign languages, our grasp on our own language, and particularly our ability to retrieve our native idiomatic expressions, slips? It’ like, “I understand the French perfectly — it’s literal and idiomatic sense — and I know for certain that English has an equally piquant way of expressing the same idea … but for the freakin’ life of me I can’t dredge it up!” Maybe I should get a cat and put my feet in a pan of water, like Constantin, to “lubricate the transition.” (That would be the Constantin of the movie of the same name.) Then again, how much does one really need to pair the French with the English expression? Cross over! Don’t translate! Live in the French! Or … just be a Dutchman — speak 3 or 4 or 5 languages! Like the Dutch (Chris) we, too, use dogs as a moral compass. For example, “That’s no way to treat a dog.” Meaning one wouldn’t treat even a dog that way.
January 16, 2008 at 7:00 pm
(17) Leslee says:
En Québec l’expression est “Il tombe des cordes” rather than “Il pleut des cordes.”. The idea is that big cords of rain are falling.
October 10, 2009 at 7:52 am
(18) Patrick says:
Bumped into you blog by accident, and notice the questions about the “cats and dogs” raining down on you.
“C’est la saison des pluies a la Hollande, et il pleut des cordes presque tous les jours!” would tell you enough about origin and educational level, although I can only talk French on official occasions, nowadays. (Because I work for the Foreign Office, you may understand why (among others languages) French is spoken. (mais pas couramment), and why my full name is not mentioned.
Thinking back to primary school, “Il pleut/tombe des hallebardes” was what I learned.
About the “Cats and Dogs” in detail:
There is one story I learned when studying English in secondary school. My professor told me this story: the drainage of medieval streets was so poor that cats and dogs frequently drowned during a heavy downpour.
This story was always followed by a poem:
Jonathan Swift’s “Description of a City Shower” (1710)
Now from all Parts the swelling Kennels flow,
And bear their Trophies with them as they go:
Filth of all Hues and Odours seem to tell
What Streets they sail’d from, by the Sight and Smell.
They, as each Torrent drives, with rapid Force
From Smithfield, or St.Pulchre’s shape their Course,
And in huge Confluent join at Snow-Hill Ridge,
Fall from the Conduit prone to Holborn-Bridge.
Sweepings from Butchers Stalls, Dung, Guts, and Blood,
Drown’d Puppies, stinking Sprats, all drench’d in Mud,
Dead Cats and Turnips-Tops come tumbling down the Flood.
-end of Hit-N-Run visit
July 23, 2010 at 6:56 am
(19) Chris Hibbert says:
Rain – the English equivalent is bizarre – why cats and dogs?
Try stair rods. Probably rhyming slang.
July 23, 2010 at 7:37 am
(20) Sue Manning-Jones says:
Our French friends taught us this expression and translated it as raining ropes, as you do. However, I agree with the comment that although we say “it’s raining cats and dogs” in English we also say “it’s raining stair rods” which is a more appropriate equivalent in this case.
July 23, 2010 at 8:20 am
(21) georgespaulding says:
salut, laura-
j’aime l’expression! mon professeur à l’université saine anne utilise le phrase “il pleut comme une vache qui pisse!” merci pour partager!
July 23, 2010 at 8:22 am
(22) abdurhman temam says:
I think “raining cats and dogs “is nice expression that is compared with a fierce fight of cats and dogs sometimes caried out.Thus,a heavey rainfall is compred with a severe fight.
July 23, 2010 at 8:46 am
(23) Heather says:
When I studied French I was taught “ll pleut des clous” for “It’s raining cats and dogs”. Is this accurate or did I misunderstand?
July 23, 2010 at 9:46 am
(24) Ton van Gemert says:
My son in law is English and he told me that it really happened, during a storm, a couple of hundred years ago, there were cats and dogs blowing away by the rainy storm. So if it`s a heavy rain, the English are still saying: `its raining cats and dogs`
July 23, 2010 at 1:04 pm
(25) Mohannad says:
Laura,
I can’t view your blog from my iPhone!!!
Any tips?
July 23, 2010 at 1:08 pm
(26) david vaughan says:
what about its raing stair rods
July 23, 2010 at 2:04 pm
(27) Colin says:
“It’s raining stair rods,” c’est une expression que je n’ai jamais entendue aux USA — donc je crois que ça se dit en Angleterre, mais ici on dit “it’s raining cats and dogs” ou bien “it’s a monsoon out there.” XD
July 23, 2010 at 5:05 pm
(28) Hanaba says:
The first thing that came to my mind was that the rain was coming down like cords of wood. Apparently, the French word “corde” can refer to a measure of firewood in the same way that we use the word “cord” in English.
July 24, 2010 at 7:20 am
(29) Roger Shantz says:
Laura,
I think the nearest equivalent in English is not the ‘cats and dogs’ simile which is one of quantity and lunacy but……’ raining stairods’, which describes the type of rain, ie. continuous.
Adieu Roger.
July 25, 2010 at 3:54 am
(30) Tom says:
Well, I’m a native English speaker from Scotland who lived in Northern England for some time and in Australia for many years and I have never heard the expression ‘Raining stair rods’. What a peculiar image. I can’t see how it is bears less lunacy than ‘cats and dogs’ which is a much more common expression in my opinion. What region of England does that come from? I would say ‘il pleut comme une vache qui pisse = raining cats and dogs’ while ‘il pleut des cords = it’s coming down in sheets.’
July 25, 2010 at 10:17 am
(31) NAy Morales(Cowbosito) says:
I have lived in Arizona all my live and have heard the expression . Its raining cats and dogs all my life. I agree that it is an odd expression. Most commonly ypu will hear the cow pissing on a flat rock from those of us involved in the cow and horse industry. I love the French language and can barely consider myself a biggner in speaking the French language. I would be curios to see how the other common expression used around my part of the country would be translated and written in French. Here it is. “Raining or pouring hard enoigh to choke a frog ”
Can some one come back to me with the French literal translation and a loose translation ?
Bonjour mon Amis “. please excuse my French.
El Cowboysito de Tucson Arizona.
July 25, 2010 at 10:28 am
(32) Cowboysito says:
Tom, The cow pissing on a flat rock expression is used here in Arizona. Not sure where Nathaniel Barber is from but he is also familar with the expression. It appears that this expression is used in several parts of the country our than the us.
Cowbosito de Tucson Arizona
July 26, 2010 at 4:57 am
(33) Maurice says:
I grew up in the North West of England and we would say it was raining stair rods. I think this is the same idea as ropes as the rain appears hot to be individual drops but continuous lengths of whatever they conjure up for you be it rods or ropes or if all of those appear joined up we would say sheets.
July 26, 2010 at 12:29 pm
(34) Jose Mendez says:
Bonjour Laura: Felicitations a ton site, c’est de grand aide a moi. En Guatemala nous dissons “esta lloviendo a cantaros”, the English trslation would be”it is raining as in vats of water.” Au revoir!
Jose
July 30, 2010 at 2:10 am
(35) Elaine says:
I just received an e-mail explaining the phrase, “it’s raining cats and dogs,” and thought I’d share it “pour votre amusement;” it comes from 15th century England:
Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no
wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get
warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs)
lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and
sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof…
Hence the saying “It’s raining cats and dogs.”
August 1, 2010 at 1:34 am
(36) Tom says:
Hi! It’ a really interesting question. In different countries, people say the same idea (about raining I mean) with different phrases!.. but always they have some unusual phrase.
In France, as we see, il pleut des cordes, in England, we catch cats and dogs… Do you know what is in Russia? In Russia, “it’s pouring as if out from a bucket” (originally, льёт как из ведра)
February 5, 2011 at 9:38 am
(37) Marjorie says:
Another view on where this expression came from ‘raining cats and dogs’ is that during very heavy rain the bodies of dead cats and dogs were flushed back up the sewers onto the streets. Incidently I read this in a book of french expressions but no french people I know have heard of it. I come from the north of england and always used ‘raining stair rods’ so perhaps it is a regional expression.
Comments
Bonjour Laura – j’aime bien votre site et j’adore les leçons. Je suis un “beginner” donc excusez-moi pour les mauvaise orthographe et fautes de grammaire. Alors, léxpression “raining cats and dogs” vient d’angleterre. Il y a longtemps, ume maison avait construit avec un toit de chaume. Les chiens et les chats habitaient dans le toit. Donc, quand il pleuvait, les chiens et chats viennaient en dehors de toit, et le gens disais “It’s raining cats and dogs”. donc voila quoi, merci…
I agree that “Il pleut des cordes” is a charming expression, like so much in French, but I grew up with “cats and dogs.” Yes, it’s not very logical, but so much in English isn’t. Take, par example, our answers to negative questions. My daughter, as a small child, grew up in Japan, where negative questions are answered (logically) in the negative. So, when a classmate in the cafeteria says “You don’t mind if I borrow the salt, do you?” she answers “Yes. I don’t mind.”
Bonjour Laura,
A mon avis la phrase “il pleut des corde” qui signfie “it’s raining cats and dogs a utilize peut-etre parceque, les chats et les chienes ce sont des animeaux domestique, Ils sont utile quand ils vivrent comme la pluie. C’est quant il pleur que on peux avoir l’easu. Mais les animeaux les plus part de les animeaux l’eau sont utiles quand ils sont mort comme le poisson.
Merci
Tammy
Nigeria
Laura j’aime bien cette phrase surtout en anglais, Je suis ecossais!On dit que peut-etre l’origine c’est aux sorcieres et les chats quand ils creent un orage. Mais les chiens je ne sais pas.
I translated ‘il pleut des cordes’ as ‘it is raining stairods’
‘Frogs’ would be likely to encourage anti French comments.
Stairods were used to secure carpets on staircases
Il y a aussi l’expression normande – bon pas tres elegante mais bien patois: pleuvoir une pisee de chat.
J’ai écrit l’expression dans un courriel à mon copain québécois et ça tombait sans connaisance. C’est comme le mot “courriel” en France. le Français idiotisme est vraiment idiot!
A Quebec, j’ai entendu l’expression “il pleut a boire debout” .
Cats and dogs were supposed to be washed from roofs during heavy weather. This is a widely repeated tale. It got a lease of life with the message “Life in the 1500s”, which began circulating on the Internet in 1999. Here’s the relevant part of that:
I’ll describe their houses a little. You’ve heard of thatch roofs, well that’s all they were. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. They were the only place for the little animals to get warm. So all the pets; dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs, all lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery so sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Thus the saying, “it’s raining cats and dogs.”
This is nonsense of course. It hardly needs debunking, but, lest there be any doubt
Saluy Laura,
J’aime bien tous les expressions des les langues, parce que on apprendre beaucoup choses bizarres. En espagnol, plus exactement en Colombie, on dit “il pleut des épouses” (si tu es femme au le contraire si tu es homme)
Il pleut chats-z’et-chiens !
The comment above about the animals slipping off the roof is close to what I’ve heard as the origin, but it was more that if it rained enough the roof would develop holes and the animals would slip through onto the people in the house.
For me, it makes sense as when it’s really raining hard and I’m insufficiently covered up, it can feel as if cat and dog claws are hitting my arms and face.
Hi Laura:
Yes it sounds weird, though in Dutch we often say when the weather is very bad, like strong wind and raining very hard ” it’s no weather to send a dog through it “.When I related this to the English, maybe they also mean that in such severe rain it even no weather for cats and dogs to be outside…
Laura, what a wonderful French site you have. Maybe even a slow learner like me has a chance (I read your stuff regularly).
If I may, I’d like to pass on what I’ve heard in the past regarding “raining cats and dogs”. It comes from the middle ages (old English) where most homes were made with the roof thatched with material from the woods. This made the roof a great place for small animals to sleep and live in. When a hard pouring rain would come, these unfortunate creatures would literally be washed off the roof onto the ground. Thus the expression “raining cats and dogs” would be used to underline just how hard it was raining, as viewed from somebody looking out a window and seeing the animals falling past.
I don’t think you are correct on this one. Il pleut des cordes, I believe refers to musical chords..the sound of the rain and not ropes!!
There’s another English (or American, at any rate) equivalent to “cats and dogs” quite similar to the “comme les vaches qui pissent;” it’s “like a cow pissin’ on a flat rock.” “Il pleut des cordes” seems to correspond well, idiomatically, to “it’s raining buckets” or “it’s coming down in sheets.” (If you’re pairing up inanimate metaphors, anyway.) “Deluge, cloudburst, waterfall” just don’t have that idiomatic oomph.
Like the Dutch (Chris) we, too, use dogs as a moral compass. For example, “That’s no way to treat a dog.” Meaning one wouldn’t treat even a dog that way.
Is it just me, or is it common that when we “cross over” to the region of the brain where we non-native speakers store our foreign languages, our grasp on our own language, and particularly our ability to retrieve our native idiomatic expressions, slips? It’ like, “I understand the French perfectly — it’s literal and idiomatic sense — and I know for certain that English has an equally piquant way of expressing the same idea … but for the freakin’ life of me I can’t dredge it up!” Maybe I should get a cat and put my feet in a pan of water, like Constantin, to “lubricate the transition.” (That would be the Constantin of the movie of the same name.) Then again, how much does one really need to pair the French with the English expression? Cross over! Don’t translate! Live in the French! Or … just be a Dutchman — speak 3 or 4 or 5 languages!
En Québec l’expression est “Il tombe des cordes” rather than “Il pleut des cordes.”. The idea is that big cords of rain are falling.
Bumped into you blog by accident, and notice the questions about the “cats and dogs” raining down on you.
“C’est la saison des pluies a la Hollande, et il pleut des cordes presque tous les jours!” would tell you enough about origin and educational level, although I can only talk French on official occasions, nowadays. (Because I work for the Foreign Office, you may understand why (among others languages) French is spoken. (mais pas couramment), and why my full name is not mentioned.
Thinking back to primary school, “Il pleut/tombe des hallebardes” was what I learned.
About the “Cats and Dogs” in detail:
There is one story I learned when studying English in secondary school. My professor told me this story: the drainage of medieval streets was so poor that cats and dogs frequently drowned during a heavy downpour.
This story was always followed by a poem:
Jonathan Swift’s “Description of a City Shower” (1710)
Now from all Parts the swelling Kennels flow,
And bear their Trophies with them as they go:
Filth of all Hues and Odours seem to tell
What Streets they sail’d from, by the Sight and Smell.
They, as each Torrent drives, with rapid Force
From Smithfield, or St.Pulchre’s shape their Course,
And in huge Confluent join at Snow-Hill Ridge,
Fall from the Conduit prone to Holborn-Bridge.
Sweepings from Butchers Stalls, Dung, Guts, and Blood,
Drown’d Puppies, stinking Sprats, all drench’d in Mud,
Dead Cats and Turnips-Tops come tumbling down the Flood.
-end of Hit-N-Run visit
Rain – the English equivalent is bizarre – why cats and dogs?
Try stair rods. Probably rhyming slang.
Our French friends taught us this expression and translated it as raining ropes, as you do. However, I agree with the comment that although we say “it’s raining cats and dogs” in English we also say “it’s raining stair rods” which is a more appropriate equivalent in this case.
salut, laura-
j’aime l’expression! mon professeur à l’université saine anne utilise le phrase “il pleut comme une vache qui pisse!” merci pour partager!
I think “raining cats and dogs “is nice expression that is compared with a fierce fight of cats and dogs sometimes caried out.Thus,a heavey rainfall is compred with a severe fight.
When I studied French I was taught “ll pleut des clous” for “It’s raining cats and dogs”. Is this accurate or did I misunderstand?
My son in law is English and he told me that it really happened, during a storm, a couple of hundred years ago, there were cats and dogs blowing away by the rainy storm. So if it`s a heavy rain, the English are still saying: `its raining cats and dogs`
Laura,
I can’t view your blog from my iPhone!!!
Any tips?
what about its raing stair rods
“It’s raining stair rods,” c’est une expression que je n’ai jamais entendue aux USA — donc je crois que ça se dit en Angleterre, mais ici on dit “it’s raining cats and dogs” ou bien “it’s a monsoon out there.” XD
The first thing that came to my mind was that the rain was coming down like cords of wood. Apparently, the French word “corde” can refer to a measure of firewood in the same way that we use the word “cord” in English.
Laura,
I think the nearest equivalent in English is not the ‘cats and dogs’ simile which is one of quantity and lunacy but……’ raining stairods’, which describes the type of rain, ie. continuous.
Adieu Roger.
Well, I’m a native English speaker from Scotland who lived in Northern England for some time and in Australia for many years and I have never heard the expression ‘Raining stair rods’. What a peculiar image. I can’t see how it is bears less lunacy than ‘cats and dogs’ which is a much more common expression in my opinion. What region of England does that come from? I would say ‘il pleut comme une vache qui pisse = raining cats and dogs’ while ‘il pleut des cords = it’s coming down in sheets.’
I have lived in Arizona all my live and have heard the expression . Its raining cats and dogs all my life. I agree that it is an odd expression. Most commonly ypu will hear the cow pissing on a flat rock from those of us involved in the cow and horse industry. I love the French language and can barely consider myself a biggner in speaking the French language. I would be curios to see how the other common expression used around my part of the country would be translated and written in French. Here it is. “Raining or pouring hard enoigh to choke a frog ”
Can some one come back to me with the French literal translation and a loose translation ?
Bonjour mon Amis “. please excuse my French.
El Cowboysito de Tucson Arizona.
Tom, The cow pissing on a flat rock expression is used here in Arizona. Not sure where Nathaniel Barber is from but he is also familar with the expression. It appears that this expression is used in several parts of the country our than the us.
Cowbosito de Tucson Arizona
I grew up in the North West of England and we would say it was raining stair rods. I think this is the same idea as ropes as the rain appears hot to be individual drops but continuous lengths of whatever they conjure up for you be it rods or ropes or if all of those appear joined up we would say sheets.
Bonjour Laura: Felicitations a ton site, c’est de grand aide a moi. En Guatemala nous dissons “esta lloviendo a cantaros”, the English trslation would be”it is raining as in vats of water.” Au revoir!
Jose
I just received an e-mail explaining the phrase, “it’s raining cats and dogs,” and thought I’d share it “pour votre amusement;” it comes from 15th century England:
Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no
wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get
warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs)
lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and
sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof…
Hence the saying “It’s raining cats and dogs.”
Hi! It’ a really interesting question. In different countries, people say the same idea (about raining I mean) with different phrases!.. but always they have some unusual phrase.
Do you know what is in Russia? In Russia, “it’s pouring as if out from a bucket” (originally, льёт как из ведра) 
In France, as we see, il pleut des cordes, in England, we catch cats and dogs…
Another view on where this expression came from ‘raining cats and dogs’ is that during very heavy rain the bodies of dead cats and dogs were flushed back up the sewers onto the streets. Incidently I read this in a book of french expressions but no french people I know have heard of it. I come from the north of england and always used ‘raining stair rods’ so perhaps it is a regional expression.