I was feeling very under the weather earlier in the week, and although i am not yet as right as rain, I am definitely improving! Under the weather means feeling poorly or ill, or ‘not quite the thing’, right as rain means the opposite – in god health and with a suggestion of being cheerful and full of energy too.
‘Right as rain’ doesn’t just apply to health, anything that is good, fine, perfect, can be described as right as rain… but where did the phrase come from? No-one seems to exactly know although there are a variety of suggestions and examples of it being used in the 1890’s.
Some think it means ‘right’ in terms of ‘straight’ and rain comes down pretty straight… well, no, it actually doesn’t, not English rain anyway. Rain can come down as straight as anything, ‘coming down like stair-rods’ (stair-rods were metal bars which held carpet in place across a flight of stairs) but rain can also be less direct, especially that particularly nasty sort of drizzle, mizzle which is a cross between rain and mist – that can go in any direction at all, usually finding its way between gaps in clothing.
The first part of the saying ‘right as..’ has been around much longer, hundreds of years, but it’s only in the last hundred that rain has been the most common thing anything perfect is as right as!
Lois Elsden 
Reblogged this on Lavender Turquois.
LikeLike
You were supposed to eat the ginger raw not make gingerbread men with it. What am I going to do with you?
LikeLike
I eat it raw, I eat it crystallised, I eat it candied I eat it covered in dark chocolate, i drink it in tea and my son gave me this blow your head off liqueur! I just love ginger – I even have ginger shower gel!
LikeLike
Sorry Lois but it seems that you might have overdone it. By the way who was the best dancer in the old Hollywood movies?
LikeLiked by 1 person
The best dancer… ooh…. ummm… errr… err… errrr Roy Rogers? Oh wrong Rogers – has to be Ginge!
LikeLike
It was Ginger Rogers. She did everything that Fred Astaire did, but did it backwards and in high heels.Talk about girl power!
LikeLiked by 1 person