Monday, March 30, 2009

Summer time is over in Oz

Hi there!
Summer is over in Australia and on the first of April, we had our first day of 'autumn' (or 'fall', if you live in the States). In our regular Purdue/UniSA editorial meeting, the Grammar Gang was discussing the language used in different cultures to talk about the weather.
In Australia, summer is traditionally linked to long days on the beach. We often say that it is 'beach weather'.
If it's very hot: 'It's a stinker today'
Humid weather: 'It's muggy today'
If there is a shower: We are having a spot of rain. If it's heavy rainfall: 'It's raining cats and dogs' or 'good weather for ducks'
Please post your weather language and sayings and let us know on Earth you are from.
Susanna Carter
Learning Adviser, University of South Australia
Adelaide, South Australia

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, in France we say:
Il pleut des cordes. (it's raining buckets.)
C'est un temps de chien. (it's lousy weather)
C'est un froid de canard. (it's freezeing cold)

Il fait soleil. easy! (It's sunny)

Andrea Duff said...

That made me smile, Dedene! In Adelaide, Australia we say 'it's bucketing down'.

Oj said...

Where I live in New York we say:
Humid= It's muggy.
Hot= It's really hot or It's toasting.
A slight rain= It's drizzling or sprinkling.
A heavy rain= It's pouring or it's raining cats and dogs.

Now I am NOT from NYC I am from New York State.

Claudia said...

In Pittsburgh PA we say:

Its raining cats and dogs/

Its a scorcher (above 90F)

Its muggy (humid)

Or hazy, hot, and humid for a combination of all three.

It is fall or autumn.

Andrea Duff said...

Hi Claudia

In Australia, we might also say something like:

'It's stinking hot'

We also say 'scorcher' (somewhat more polite!) and 'muggy'.

larin said...

I live in north Idaho in the western part of the United States. We don't get too many humid days when it's warm, so we have a joke about "It's hot, but it's a dry heat." I never understood it until I got off an airplane in Minnesota, which is quite humid. That phrase immediately jumped into my mind! We also use many of the same phrases listed: muggy, raining cats and dogs, drizzling, sprinkling.