Sunshower
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the meterological phenomenon. For commercial products with the name "Sunshower", see Sunshower (commercial product)
A sunshower is an unusual meteorological phenomenon in which rain falls while the sun is shining [1]. These conditions often lead to the appearance of a rainbow, if the sun is at a low enough angle [1]. The term "sunshower" is used in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Britain, but is rarely found in dictionaries [2]. Additionally, the phenomenon has a wide range of sometimes remarkably similar folkloric names in cultures around the world [3]. A common theme is that of trickster animals, or the devil, getting married, although many variations of parts of this theme exist [2][3].
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[edit] Meteorology
The nature of cumuluform clouds is such that the sun can often be seen while they are producing rain. [1] If a sunshower occurs in the early morning or late afternoon (specifically, any time the sun is at less than a 42° angle), a rainbow can occur. [1]
[edit] Folkloric names
[edit] Animals
- In South African English, it is referred to as a "monkey’s wedding," a loan translation of the Zulu umshado wezinkawu, a wedding for monkeys [2]. In Afrikaans (also a South African language), it is referred to as jakkalstrou [2], jackals wedding, or also As jakkals trou met wolf se vrou, meaning "when the jackal marries the Wolf's wife."
- In Hindi, it is also called “the jackal’s wedding.” [2]
- In Arabic, the term is “the rats are getting married” [2].
- Bulgarians speak of bears marrying [2].
- In Korea, tigers are getting married.
- In various African languages, leopards are getting married.
- One animal, the fox, crops up all over the world, from Kerala to Japan (Japan also refers to it as 'Kitsune (the fox) takes a bride,') to Armenia; there’s even an English dialect term, “the foxes’ wedding,” known from the south west of England. In Calabria, it is said that “when it rains with sun, the foxes are getting married.”
[edit] Devils
6.43% of people in the US, particularly in the South, use the phrase "The devil’s behind his kitchen door beating his wife with a frying pan," or "The Devil's beatin' his wife." [4] [2]. The same phrase occurs also in Dutch and Hungarian. Other similar phrases include: "The devil is getting married" (Hungarian and Turkish), "The devil is kissing his wife" (Tennessee, USA), and "The devil is having a parish fair" (German).
[edit] Other variations
In Polish, the saying is that “when the sun is shining and the rain is raining, the witch is making butter.” In parts of rural US, you can also hear it referred to as: "the wolf is giving birth", "liquid sun" and "pineapple rain". For Filipinos [Philippines], "elves are getting married", while in Spain it is witches, and in Greece it is the poor.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Languagehat
- Word-detective.com
- Google Answers on the origin of "fox's wedding day"
- The Wyandot Nation of Kansas - Myth on the origin of sunshowers
[edit] References
[edit] Cited references
- ^ a b c d Symonds, Steve, Weather Terms - Wild Weather, 2004, ABC North Coast, Retrieved November 2006.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Quinion, Michael, Monkey's Wedding, 2001, World Wide Words, Retrieved November 2006
- ^ a b Vaux, Bert, Sunshower summary, 1998,linguistlist.org, retrieved November 2006
- ^ Vaux, Bert, Dialect Survey, 2005, Retrieved November 2006
[edit] General references
- Blust, Robert (1998) The Fox's Wedding. Manuscript, University of Hawaii.
- Evgen'jeva, A. P., ed. (1985-) Slovar' russkogo jazyka v 4 tomakh, 3rd edition. Moscow.
- Kuusi, Matti (1957) Regen bei Sonnenschein: Zur Weltgeschichte einer Redensart. "Folklore Fellows Communications" n. 171, Helsinki 1957 (it appeared translated into Italian in the journal "Quaderni di Semantica" 13 (1992) and 14 (1993)).
- Hoffmann-Krayer, E. (1930-31) Handwrterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens. Berlin and Leipzig: Walter de Gruyter.
