A monkey's birthday
felix
don't say anything). When we were kids in Cambridge UK in the 60s, we
used to say 'it's a monkey's birthday!' I've heard 'monkey's wedding'
as a Shropshire variant. Any others? Does one comment l-pond?
This is probably just a children's thing, children thinking the
situation is paradoxical, as when the moon is up in the daytime.
Adults might be more likely to look around for a rainbow.
felix
Murray Arnow
I know that happening as "sun showers."
perchprism
"felix" <fel...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:430d1c32.01102...@posting.google.com...
Nothing so interesting here--"sunshower." It is slightly interesting that
it's rarely verbed: "We're having a sunshower."
--
Perchprism
(southern New Jersey, near Philadelphia)
Richard Fontana
It's called a "sunshower" in my dialect of American English; I do not
recall any associated childhood ceremonial saying. It's not extremely
unusual in the late spring or summer.
Isabella Z
>What do you say when it's sunny and raining simultaneously? (Maybe you
>don't say anything). When we were kids in Cambridge UK in the 60s, we
>used to say 'it's a monkey's birthday!' I've heard 'monkey's wedding'
>as a Shropshire variant. Any others?
If interested, in Italy, Milan-area, it's "the witches are combing
their hair" (le streghe si pettinano).
Ciao,
--
Isa
Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one's watching
j...@radidelmex.net
there. You can even watch the rain clouds pass overhead while you're
on the beach.
Ben Zimmer
Isabella Z wrote:
>
> On 26 Oct 2001 08:00:19 -0700, fel...@hotmail.com (felix) wrote:
>
> >What do you say when it's sunny and raining simultaneously? (Maybe you
> >don't say anything). When we were kids in Cambridge UK in the 60s, we
> >used to say 'it's a monkey's birthday!' I've heard 'monkey's wedding'
> >as a Shropshire variant. Any others?
>
> If interested, in Italy, Milan-area, it's "the witches are combing
> their hair" (le streghe si pettinano).
Bert Vaux put together a comprehensive list of sunshower expressions
(including an awful lot of animal weddings):
http://www.emich.edu/~linguist/issues/9/9-1795.html
--Ben
Tony Cooper
>
> What do you say when it's sunny and raining simultaneously? (Maybe you
> don't say anything).
It's such a common occurrence here in Florida that we
wouldn't bother to give it a name. It's not at all
unremarkable to be driving on I-4 (the interstate that goes
through the city) in the sunshine and see a sheet of rain
ahead of you. In a mile or so, you drive out of the rain.
The rain is in such a specific area that sunshine is visible
on all sides. It's like the rain comes down from a shower
fixture. A shopping center parking lot might have rain at
one end but not the other.
--
Tony Cooper aka: tony_co...@yahoo.com
Provider of Jots and Tittles
John O'Flaherty
Can't you do that on any beach?
--
john
Steve Hayes
My mother told me it was a "monkey's wedding".
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/steve.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
Mike Barnes
>This is probably just a children's thing, children thinking the
>situation is paradoxical, as when the moon is up in the daytime.
Yeah, that's *so* not fair. The sun never gets to come out at night.
--
Mike Barnes
Ben Zimmer
Steve Hayes wrote:
>
> On 26 Oct 2001 08:00:19 -0700, fel...@hotmail.com (felix) wrote:
>
> >What do you say when it's sunny and raining simultaneously? (Maybe you
> >don't say anything). When we were kids in Cambridge UK in the 60s, we
> >used to say 'it's a monkey's birthday!' I've heard 'monkey's wedding'
> >as a Shropshire variant. Any others? Does one comment l-pond?
> >This is probably just a children's thing, children thinking the
> >situation is paradoxical, as when the moon is up in the daytime.
> >Adults might be more likely to look around for a rainbow.
>
> My mother told me it was a "monkey's wedding".
Bert Vaux's list (mentioned in another post) has "monkey's wedding"
attested in Dutch, Afrikaans, and S. African English. Here's his list
for English:
------------------
http://www.emich.edu/~linguist/issues/9/9-1795.html
1a. monkey's wedding [South Africa--A dictionary of south african
english on historical principles; London--Timothy Ostler, London (but he
may have learned it in South Africa; Zimbabwe-Brian Saccente]
1b. monkey's birthday [Oregon--Peter McGraw; Mai Kuha, Spain, learned
from British expatriates; Southern China-Kevin McGrath]
2. fox's wedding (SW England-Dave Cragg; see Comment 1 below)
3. donkey's wedding (the woman who used this form grew up in both India
and England, so it is not clear which was the source of this expression)
4. sunshower [Vaux; many of the English-speaking respondents indicated
that they had not heard this term; others indicated that it referred to
intense sun without rain, parallel to French bain de soleil]
5a. the devil's beating his wife (behind the back door) [Mississippi,
Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and numerous other Southern states;
St. Thomas]
5b. When it rains when it shines, the devil's beating his wife with a
codfish [Yorkshire--Patrick Taylor; he adds that the intention is
probably dirty--cf. Elizabethan codware 'testicles']
5c. the devil's kissing his wife (Tennessee--Lynn Webster)
6. liquid sunshine [Hawaii--Ernie Barreto, Susan Fischer]
7. Indian shower (Ernie Barreto)
Comments:
1. I came across a small piece in the Guardian Weekly newspaper
referring to the fox's wedding. (The Guardian Weekly is a digest of the
Guardian, and is ditributed overseas. The article was probably in a
section of the paper called "Country Diary"; if pushed, I'd say it was
after 1990.) It seems this term is used in parts of the south west of
England. The article speculated that perhaps the term had originally
been 'the folks' wedding', but I don't think there was any evidence for
that. (Dave Cragg)
2. One individual from Vidalia, GA stated that 'the devil's beating his
wife' was employed to refer to thunder with no rain.
3. Neal Magnusson remembered hearing the phrase 'the devil's beating his
wife' used in a rock song, and Emily Tucker recalled reading it in a
novel.
------------------
--Ben
Steve Hayes
wrote:
>
>
>Steve Hayes wrote:
>>
>> On 26 Oct 2001 08:00:19 -0700, fel...@hotmail.com (felix) wrote:
>>
>> >What do you say when it's sunny and raining simultaneously? (Maybe you
>> >don't say anything). When we were kids in Cambridge UK in the 60s, we
>> >used to say 'it's a monkey's birthday!' I've heard 'monkey's wedding'
>> >as a Shropshire variant. Any others? Does one comment l-pond?
>> >This is probably just a children's thing, children thinking the
>> >situation is paradoxical, as when the moon is up in the daytime.
>> >Adults might be more likely to look around for a rainbow.
>>
>> My mother told me it was a "monkey's wedding".
>
>Bert Vaux's list (mentioned in another post) has "monkey's wedding"
>attested in Dutch, Afrikaans, and S. African English. Here's his list
>for English:
Thanks - saved for future reference!
felix
> Bert Vaux put together a comprehensive list of sunshower expressions
> (including an awful lot of animal weddings):
>
> http://www.emich.edu/~linguist/issues/9/9-1795.html
Thanks Ben, this is a splendid and pretty exhaustive list.
'Fox's wedding' wins hands down, from locations as widespread as
Bulgaria, UK, Finland, India (where 'jackal' replaces 'fox'), Italy,
Japan, Malaysia, Portugal, Brazil and Turkey.
Dullest description: 'The poor people are getting married'. (Greece)
Least likely: 'The bridegroom has eaten unheated food'. (Cape Verde
Is. - those crazy Verdeans!)
cheers
felix
Ben Zimmer
felix wrote:
>
> Ben Zimmer <bgzi...@midway.uchicago.edu> wrote in message news:<3BD9DA68...@midway.uchicago.edu>...
>
> > Bert Vaux put together a comprehensive list of sunshower expressions
> > (including an awful lot of animal weddings):
> >
> > http://www.emich.edu/~linguist/issues/9/9-1795.html
>
> Thanks Ben, this is a splendid and pretty exhaustive list.
> 'Fox's wedding' wins hands down, from locations as widespread as
> Bulgaria, UK, Finland, India (where 'jackal' replaces 'fox'), Italy,
> Japan, Malaysia, Portugal, Brazil and Turkey.
There's nothing from Malaysia actually... I think you're referring to
the list's inclusion of Malayalam, that wonderfully palindromic language
spoken in southern India.
--Ben
felix
> There's nothing from Malaysia actually... I think you're referring to
> the list's inclusion of Malayalam, that wonderfully palindromic language
> spoken in southern India.
Ah. So what do they say in Malay? My money's on the fox.
felix
Bob Stahl
>What do you say when it's sunny and raining simultaneously?....
Nothing specific -- for a light shower, "raining kittens" or
"squirrels".
---
Bob Stahl
Geoff Butler
Simon R. Hughes
> Mike Barnes <mi...@senrab.com> wrote
> >In alt.usage.english, felix <fel...@hotmail.com> wrote
> >>This is probably just a children's thing, children thinking the
> >>situation is paradoxical, as when the moon is up in the daytime.
> >
> >Yeah, that's *so* not fair. The sun never gets to come out at night.
It certainly does.
> And that was odd, because it was
> The middle of the night.
You southern-toffs!
--
Simon R. Hughes -- http://www.geocities.com/a57998/subconscious/
Tahnee Piacentini
Peter Moylan
They're very different.
--
Peter Moylan Newcastle, NSW http://www.pmoylan.org
Hibou
A sunshiny shower won't last half an hour.