OED: "monkey's wedding"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Nor, to my surprise, is "sunshower" in OED.

JL

On Sun, Dec 2, 2012 at 10:02 AM, Alice Faber <faber at haskins.yale.edu> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Alice Faber <faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU>
> Organization: Haskins Laboratories
> Subject:      Re: OED: "monkey's wedding"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 12/2/12 8:34 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > My grandmother told me about "sunshowers" ca1952.
> >
> > I thought it was weird that it could rain while the sun was shining. IMO,
> > sunshowers are very brief.
> >
> > I've read (but never heard) "The devil is beating his wife."  I've never
> > seen an explanation of it.
> >
>
> "Sunshowers" is the term I was familiar with, growing up in the NY area
> in the 50s/60s. When I moved to Texas for grad school, I was told about
> "the devil is beating his wife" as a quintessential Texas expression,
> although I don't think I ever heard it "in the wild".
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org