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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Jillian Woodward.

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<v Speaker 2>And I'm Colin Lowther. Spotlight uses a special English method

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<v Speaker 2>of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no

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<v Speaker 2>matter where in the world they live.

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<v Speaker 1>The weather in the United Kingdom is weird. It changes

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<v Speaker 1>a lot. It can be hot one day and cold

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<v Speaker 1>the next. A few years ago, my cousins from Canada

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<v Speaker 1>decided to visit. They wanted to know what the weather

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<v Speaker 1>would be like in June, but I couldn't tell them

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<v Speaker 1>because I did not know. I told them to bring

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<v Speaker 1>clothes to keep them warm and clothes to keep them cool,

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<v Speaker 1>but I also told them to bring a waterproof coat.

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<v Speaker 1>I did not know what temperature it would be, but

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<v Speaker 1>I knew one thing, it was going to rain.

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<v Speaker 2>It rains a lot in the UK. Sometimes the rain

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<v Speaker 2>is heavy and sometimes it is light, but mostly it

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<v Speaker 2>is constant. In most places it rains over one hundred

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<v Speaker 2>days a year. It rains even more in the far North.

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<v Speaker 2>The Shetland Islands are the most northern part of the UK.

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<v Speaker 2>There it rains more than two hundred days a year.

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<v Speaker 1>So you would expect to hear us talking a lot

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<v Speaker 1>about rain. In the UK.

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<v Speaker 2>We do.

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<v Speaker 1>But the English language is a little like the weather

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<v Speaker 1>in the UK. Its rules are difficult to predict, and

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<v Speaker 1>when someone talks about rain, they may not really be

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<v Speaker 1>talking about rain.

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<v Speaker 2>This is because we are using idioms. Native English speakers

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<v Speaker 2>often use idioms in their speech. Idioms are words and

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<v Speaker 2>phrases where the meaning is not clear from the individual words.

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<v Speaker 2>These phrases are difficult for non native speakers to understand.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's spotlight is on rain idioms. We explore seven common

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<v Speaker 1>rain idioms. Most are not about rain at all, but

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<v Speaker 1>these idioms will help you sound like a native speaker.

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<v Speaker 2>Our first rain idiom is the phrase come rain or shine.

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<v Speaker 2>This phrase means that you promise to do something whatever happens.

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<v Speaker 2>I could say I will visit you. Come rain or shine.

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<v Speaker 2>This could mean that I will visit you whether it

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<v Speaker 2>is good or bad weather. But it means more than that.

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<v Speaker 2>It means I will visit you whatever happens. It is

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<v Speaker 2>a definite promise.

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<v Speaker 1>Our second English idiom uses two different phrases. English speakers

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<v Speaker 1>from the UK say it never rains, but it pours.

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<v Speaker 1>English speakers from the USA say, when it rains, it paus.

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<v Speaker 1>The two have the same basic meaning.

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<v Speaker 2>If one bad thing happens and then more bad things happen,

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<v Speaker 2>you might use this idiom. If bad or convenient things

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<v Speaker 2>happen again and again, you might say, oh dear, it

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<v Speaker 2>never rains, but it pause. It is a way of

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<v Speaker 2>saying that bad things are happening repeatedly.

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<v Speaker 1>This idiom has nothing to do with the weather. It

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<v Speaker 1>could be a bright sunny day and you would still

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<v Speaker 1>say it never rains, but it pours.

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<v Speaker 2>So if one sunny day a person could not get

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<v Speaker 2>his start, then his computer went wrong, and then he

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<v Speaker 2>had a power cut, he might say it never rains,

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<v Speaker 2>but it paws.

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<v Speaker 1>Another English rain expression is save it for a rainy day.

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<v Speaker 1>This means to save money or another resource for a future,

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<v Speaker 1>unknown and unexpected need.

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<v Speaker 2>A person might use this phrase if her motorbike broke down,

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<v Speaker 2>if she faced a big bill to repair it, she

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<v Speaker 2>would be glad if she had saved money for a

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<v Speaker 2>rainy day.

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<v Speaker 1>A fourth English rain idiom is to be right as rain.

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<v Speaker 1>This means to feel well. It has nothing at all

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<v Speaker 1>to do with rain.

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<v Speaker 2>For example, say a person has been sick for a

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<v Speaker 2>few days he starts to feel a bit better. He

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<v Speaker 2>might tell his friend, I will be Writer's rain. Next week,

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<v Speaker 2>he is saying that he thinks he will feel normal

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<v Speaker 2>the next week. The next week, he might say I

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<v Speaker 2>am feeling Wright's rain. It would mean he is feeling healthy.

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<v Speaker 1>Another strange idiom is to take a rain check. This

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<v Speaker 1>is something that you say when you can't accept someone's

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<v Speaker 1>invitation to something, but it also means that you would

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<v Speaker 1>like to accept that invitation on another occasion.

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<v Speaker 2>Imagine a friend asks you to meet her for coffee.

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<v Speaker 2>You want to go, but you cannot you are already

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<v Speaker 2>busy that day. You might say something like I will

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<v Speaker 2>take a rain check on that I am already busy

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<v Speaker 2>that day. You would mean that you cannot go to

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<v Speaker 2>coffee on the day your friend suggested, but your friend

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<v Speaker 2>would understand that you would like to go another time.

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<v Speaker 1>The phrase rain check actually came from US baseball. When

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<v Speaker 1>there was too much rain for a team to play,

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<v Speaker 1>they would give spectators extra tickets. These tickets would be

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<v Speaker 1>good for the next game. That way, people could still

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<v Speaker 1>watch the game they paid for.

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<v Speaker 2>The sixth idiom is the phrase to rain on someone's parade.

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<v Speaker 2>It means to ruin someone's plans or to make them

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<v Speaker 2>feel less excited about those plans. Imagine a boy is

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<v Speaker 2>going to a party. He is excited because he thinks

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<v Speaker 2>he is going to meet a girl he likes there,

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<v Speaker 2>but you know the girl is doing something else. If

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<v Speaker 2>you tell him, he might say something like, you are

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<v Speaker 2>really raining on my parade.

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<v Speaker 1>This phrase comes from real experience. The organizers will have

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<v Speaker 1>to cancel a parade if it rains. The parade is ruined.

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<v Speaker 1>If you rain on someone's parade, you cause disappointment. It

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<v Speaker 1>is the same feeling a person has if an event

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<v Speaker 1>they looked forward to is canceled.

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<v Speaker 2>The final idiom for this program is raining cats and dogs. Surprise.

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<v Speaker 2>This idiom is really about rain, but cats and dogs

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<v Speaker 2>are not falling from the sky.

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<v Speaker 1>If someone says it is raining cats and dogs, he

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<v Speaker 1>means it is raining very hard. It is not just

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<v Speaker 1>a light shower. It is a very heavy downpour.

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<v Speaker 2>Experts do not know where this phrase came from. One

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<v Speaker 2>of the earliest uses is in a poem written in

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<v Speaker 2>seventeen ten by Jonathan Swift called a description of a

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<v Speaker 2>city shower. In the poem, the Irish writer describes a

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<v Speaker 2>storm so powerful that it pushes animals from the rooftops.

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<v Speaker 2>People talk about this kind of rain when they say

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<v Speaker 2>raining cats and dogs.

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<v Speaker 1>In the UK, people talk about the weather a lot.

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<v Speaker 1>They always have something to say about it because it

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<v Speaker 1>is always changing. The weather is a great topic of conversation.

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<v Speaker 1>The idioms in this program will not always help you

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<v Speaker 1>to talk about the weather, but they will help you

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<v Speaker 1>sound more like a native speaker. Practice these idioms as

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<v Speaker 1>much as you can use them with your friends.

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<v Speaker 2>Did these idioms surprise you? Which idiom did you think

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<v Speaker 2>was the strangest? We want to hear your thoughts. You

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<v Speaker 2>can leave a comment on our website or emailers at

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<v Speaker 2>Spotlight English dot com. You can also comment on Facebook

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<v Speaker 2>at Facebook dot com slash Spotlight Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>The writers of this program were Katie Blake and Dan Christman.

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<v Speaker 1>The producer was Dan Christman. The voices you heard were

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<v Speaker 1>from the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted for this

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<v Speaker 1>program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this

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<v Speaker 1>program again and read it on the internet at www

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<v Speaker 1>dot Spotlight English dot com. This program is called English

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<v Speaker 1>Idioms Rain.

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<v Speaker 2>You can also get our programs delivered directly to your

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<v Speaker 2>Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.

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<v Speaker 2>We hope you can join us a gain for the

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<v Speaker 2>next Spotlight program. Goodbye M.