Rain=Raymond

[Natalie Maynor]

Yesterday morning I was sitting here in my office listening to the
pounding hammers or whatevers of the construction workers outside my
window, when I heard one of them yell, "Come onnn, Raymond!"  The
black clouds were gathering, with rain imminent.  That took me back
many years to when my brother spent a couple of summers in college
working on a city surveying crew in Jackson.  I remember his imitating
what some of the regular crew members would start saying if rain
looked likely (meaning they'd get to quit work):  "Come on down here,
Raymond!"

Have any of you heard that, or might it be a Mississippi thing?  It's
interesting to me that forty or so years have passed since my brother
heard it in Jackson (about 125 miles southwest of where I heard it
yesterday).  Calling rain "Raymond" is not really all that strange,
of course.  I can see how it might be coined independently in various
places.  Nevertheless, I found it interesting.
   --Natalie Maynor (maynor at ra.msstate.edu)