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關於這句俚語的來源,似乎至今還沒有一個確定的出處,倒是有好幾種不同的說法。其實,最初人們的確用過to rain pitchforks, to rain shovels, darning needles, chicken coops和hammer handles來描述“持續的大雨”。 “To rain cats and dogs”最早應該是出現在理查德-布羅姆1652年創作的劇本《The City Wit, or the Woman Wears the Breeches》中:“It shall rain dogs and polecats.” Polecats 是一種類似於雪貂的貓,但是這個詞后來在喬納森-斯威夫特的筆下變成了Cats。1738年,斯威夫特在《A Complete Collection of Polite and Ingenious Conversation》一書中所使用的短語就是如今我們所熟悉的這種形式:“I know Sir John will go, though he was sure it would cats and dogs.”

《詞匯短語起源故事百科全書》(Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins) 中收錄了對其起源的一種解釋。書中說“17世紀的英格蘭在下大雨的時候,一些城市的街道就會水流成河,而且這些污水中還會飄浮著大量的死貓死狗。”(During heavy rains in 17th century England, some city streets became raging rivers of filth carrying many cats and dogs.)

布魯爾在其所著的《成語寓言大辭典》(Dictionary of Phrase and Fable)中說,這個短語起源於北歐:“在挪威的神話中,貓被認為可以影響天氣。駕著風暴而來的女巫據說就是化身為貓的。” 而狗和狼則是風暴神歐丁的隨從,其中狗是“風的象征”("In Norse mythology, the cat is supposed to have great influence on the weather. Witches that rode on storms were said to assume the form of cats." Dogs and wolves were attendants to Odin, the god of storms, and the dog "is a signal of wind.")。

還有人說,它來源於一個古老的法語詞“catdoupe”,這個詞的意思是“waterfall or cataract”。而法語中“catdoupe”的發音和“cats and dogs”有些相像, 所以就有了 “to rain cats and dogs”。

尚有另一種說法,就是中世紀時候,人們用茅草蓋屋頂,而一些小動物就會躲在上面取暖,有些在下大雨的時候,一個不小心或是因為屋頂損壞而掉到地面上。

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"People who hate cats were rats in another incarnation." - Proverb

譯:討厭貓的人前世是老鼠。

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"No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens." - Abraham Lincoln

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"There are people who reshape the world by force or argument, but the cat just lies there, dozing; and the world quietly reshapes itself to suit his comfort and convenience." - Allen & Ivy Dodd

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"Beware of people who dislike cats." - Irish proverb

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"One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives." - Mark Twain

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"Alexander the Great, Napoleon, and Hitler...were apparently terrified of small felines....If you want to conquer the world you had better not share even a moment with an animal that refuses to be conquered at any price, by anyone." - Desmond Morris

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"A dog is prose, a cat is a poem." - Jean Burden

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"Cats are smarter than dogs. You can't get eight cats to pull a sled through snow." - Jeff Valdez

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"A man has to work so hard so that something of his personality stays alive. A tomcat has t so easy, he has only to spray and his presence is there for years on rainy days." - Albert Einstein

天哪好久沒有撕公司桌上的桌曆了...一個半月...時間在那本小小的桌曆已經停了那麼久ㄇ>.<

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"Some men there are love not a gaping pig; Some, that are mad if they behold a cat." - Shakespeare

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'But thousands die without this or that, / Die, and endow a college, or a cat.' - Alexander Pope

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'It's a cat eat dog world' - Norman Lowery

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'By what right has the dog come to be regarded as a "noble" animal? The more brutal and cruel and unjust you are to him the more your fawning and adoring slave he becomes; whereas, if you shamefully misuse a cat once she will always maintain a dignified reserve toward you afterward - you will never get her full confidence again.' - Mark Twain

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'Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back' -- Proverb
通常大家都只聽過"好奇殺死一隻貓", 不過還有下一句:"但是滿足又將之帶回"
很有趣吧...^^

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'Pluto -this was the cat's name - was my favorite pet and playmate. I alone fed him, and he attended me wherever I went about the house. It was with difficulty that I could prevent him from following me through the streets.' --Edgar Allen Poe

Edgar Allen Poe 的作品 "黑貓" 片段


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