"Raining Cats and Dogs" — the Messy Truth
No, pets never fell from thatched roofs. Here's what the record actually shows.
The whole barnyard
Animal Idioms
English is strangely full of animals. Cats escape from bags, elephants stand around in rooms, and horses get held for no clear reason. This jar collects the best-documented origin stories behind them — including the famous ones that turn out to be pure invention. The internet's favorite fake here is the "cats fell through thatched roofs" story; we take it apart in raining cats and dogs.
All posts in this jar
8 origin stories
"Let the Cat Out of the Bag" — a Market Scam
Buy a piglet, get home, open the sack — surprise, it's a cat. Maybe.
Who Put the Elephant in the Room?
A Russian fable, a New York Times ad, and one very big metaphor.
"Hold Your Horses" — Older Than You Think
Literal advice with a paper trail running all the way back to Homer's Iliad.
"Curiosity Killed the Cat" Has a Missing Second Half
…but satisfaction brought it back. The forgotten ending flips the meaning.
12 Animal Idioms With Surprising Origins
Wild-goose chases, white elephants, and crocodile tears — the full tour.
Why Are So Many Idioms About Cats?
Cats out of bags, cats on hot tin roofs, cats with your tongue. A pattern worth explaining.
"Straight From the Horse's Mouth"
A horse's teeth don't lie about its age — sellers, on the other hand…
Where should you start?
The crowd-pleaser is curiosity killed the cat — its lost second half surprises almost everyone. For a proper myth-busting, raining cats and dogs shows how a fake origin story outran the real one. And if you'd rather graze widely, the 12-idiom roundup covers the whole barnyard in one sitting.
One phrase, once a week
Every Friday we pull one idiom out of the jar and email you its real story — under two minutes of reading. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
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