No, it was HGGTTG, wasn't it - in Mostly Harmless? or ws it So Long ...?

Anyway, judging by the way the heavens open just as I leave the building/get off the bus, I think *I'm* the rain god.

Maybe I should move to some desert land, and make a fortune selling cloudbursts.



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I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

Isn't it in the fourth volume in the HitchHiker's Guide series, when Arthur Dent has found his way back to modern-day Earth?

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Warning! Product may contain Newts!

And guess what .. it's going to rain again any minute ...



Post Edited (05-21-03 11:10)

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I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

It's dry-ish here. Temporarily.

Yes, I think it's the 4th HH one, now that you mention it. Round about when Arthur meets Fenchurch.



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Do something pretty while you can...

Could easily be. I've not read any of the Douglas Adams for years.

It's dry here so far... Managed to cycle in without getting drenched. Not bright enough for me to be tempted up to Headingley to watch the cricket over lunch though.

Apparently, the Navajo distinguish two sorts of rain. Female rain falls more gently, soaks into the ground and makes crops grow. Male rain is heavy and noisy, runs off instead of soaking in and isn't really much use in the long run.

I'm not making this up; it's in one of Tony Hillerman's Navajo detective stories.

bucketing is another one, as is spotting (larger drops than spitting, but less of them, if you know what I mean)



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

That's priceless! I must remember it for future reference. :-)



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

Not only the Navajo but also the Pueblo distinguish between male and female rain.

I grew up in New Mexico. The male rain in the desert southwest is unlike any I've experienced anywhere else. If you haven't lived through it, it sounds like exaggeration. It only comes in late July or early August, usually in the early afternoon, is very short and sudden, and drops an unbelievable amount of water. If you're driving on the freeway, you pull over and stop because no way can you see through your windshield, it's like having a fire hose turned on your car, and anyway it will all be over in a few minutes.

If you're in a city, 5 minutes after it starts the water will be over the curbs, at least 6 inches deep. 10 minutes after it starts the rivers will be up two to four feet from where they were before it began. (You have to understand that the standard depth for any undammed river in New Mexico except the Rio Grande is usually under 2 feet, so this means more than doubling in volume.) Then it starts to abate, and usually in 15 minutes is over until the next day. But it takes a while for the flooding to go down because the water just can't find anywhere to go that fast, and there's still more coming down from the higher ground.

Unfortunately, there is very little rain of either sort in the spring when it would be helpful. The female rains tend to come in the fall. If you want to grow anything, you irrigate.

during really hot, humid summers we've been known to have something similar here in Virginia. We call it the daily Monsoon. It takes all of about 15-20 minutes, but the streams all fill up and the rain gutters all overflow. And no matter how quickly your windshield wipers go, they can't handle the amount of water! It's absolutely amazing.

And I always welcome these storms because it means a lot of the humidity will abate and there's this wonderful "jungle" smell right afterward.

They usually happen in July and August. Violent but amazing!

We say it's 'persisting down'. It's when we want to say 'pissing it down' but figure we're in too much polite company to do so.

At the moment it is doing just that outside, and I had to run out and get the washing in (don't know who's clever idea it was to put it out there in the first place, but hey...) so now I am completely soaked, drenched, wet through, cold, miserable, you get the picture.

Even had to change my socks. Dreadful.



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There's a hole in my creativity bucket and it's all leaked out.

I've used 'persisting down' too. I've also heard the expression 'It's weeing down out there', but 'pissing down' is more common.

Old joke time:
Did you hear about the (choose-your-own-ethnic-minority)man, who took his girlfriend out in the fog and mist.

Errr....I don't get it...wait...*laughs hysterically and insanely*

Anyhow, whoe'er it was who mentioned "The Language Instinct" is a god/goddess. I was dying to mention the fact that the Inuit thing is WRONG, DAMMIT, and then I remembered the last time I mentioned this and got stared at coldly. Thank you for reminding me that in the Fforum it's safe to know random esoteric knowledge.

Great book, wasn't it, though?

On the topic of rain-- we also have "wet fog", "sea breeze" (used for saltyish drizzle) and "dripping" (end of rainstorm). But those are of course American.

- Currer Bell



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Revolt! Revolt! No matter why or when,
It's novelty--old novelty again.

Does 'freezing fog' count as pricipitation? I'm sure that fogs and mists count as deposition, as water accumulates on surfaces rather than falling down out of the sky. "Occult deposition" is the term for acid 'rain' caused by chemicals becoming scavenged by the tiny particles in fog and then settling on surfaces - it can be far more acid than other types. (Record acidity in rain is about the same acidity as car battery acid falling on your head, apparently - happened in the states, where everything has to be bigger except the IQ of political leaders...)



PSD

==========

This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

Gosh... I've never been a goddess before!

I can't get enough of Steven Pinker's books. I recently read "Words and Rules", and was asked what it was about. "Irregular verbs," I explained. "No, wait, wait, it's not like that, it's not what you think..."

Why do people always run off so quickly?



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

Hee. I've only read half of Words & Rules, actually. But the Language Instinct is great. There's a new one out that sounds good, too.



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Do something pretty while you can...

Oooo...you mean he actually wrote *other* books?

*runs off to Amazon and is not seen for quite some time*

- Currer Bell



----------------------------------------------------------------
Revolt! Revolt! No matter why or when,
It's novelty--old novelty again.

How about 'lashing down' - that's a term for rain not an offer in case anybody was wanting to deliberately misunderstand (you know who you are).
Also 'teeming (sp)' and 'wazzing down (northern only I suspect)'

I'm surprised Dave hasn't contributed 'hoying it down' (or hoynit doon, phonetically) as a Geordie phrase.

How about 'it's a soft day', the Irish phrase for rain falling as fine mist?



- - -
I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

oh dear. I've spent so long in Yorkshire I'd forgotten the geordie in me.