And the deluge continues in California. A few years ago, I did a Slang-o-rama dive into the phrase raining cats and dogs (check it out here). I wracked my brain for another "holy cow, that's a lot of rain" idiom, and thought of raining pitchforks. Having pitchforks thunder down from above sounds pretty dangerous... So let's see what I can find...
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The Free Dictionary simply lists it as an "old-fashioned" phrase meaning "to rain very hard and heavy." In its entry on "raining cats and dogs," Wikipedia mentions raining pitchforks along with raining hammer handles as phrases of unknown origin that may have been used just for their "nonsensical humor value." I turned to Google Ngram to get an idea of how far back this expression might go, and saw a fair representation of appearances in books from the 19th century.
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| Google Ngram results for "raining pitchforks" |
Digging around a little more, I found the phrase raining pitchforks in The Love Life of Brig. Gen. Henry M. Naglee, in a letter he wrote to a sweetheart during the Civil War, dated March 15, 1862. (You can view the passage here.) Curious about the book, I turned to the introduction and discovered these letters were published by the recipient, actress Mary Schell, who later sued Naglee for "breech of promise." Hmmmm. I then turned to the Wikipedia entry on Naglee and discovered that he had a strong connection to San Francisco. What serendipity! So, down the rabbit hole I go, while it continues to rain pitchforks outside...
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| Cozy inside, raining pitchforks outside (Photo: Ann Parker) |
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