[Ads-l] rain = clients (that bring in revenue)

[Barretts Mail]

In Pachinko (https://bit.ly/2NQjpSa <https://bit.ly/2NQjpSa>), published last year, Min Jin Lee writes:

At Travis, Kazu made lot of rain. Five of the six most important banking deals last year took place because Kazu had made them happen.

Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rain <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rain>), the OLD (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/rain <https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/rain>), Dictionary.com (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/rain?s=t <http://www.dictionary.com/browse/rain?s=t>) and Merriam-Webster (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rain <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rain>) do not have this meaning, though the meaning of a lot of something (such as a rain of blows) is provided.

On Urban Dictionary,

hardtobody (https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=rain&page=4 <https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=rain&page=4>) writes:
money. i call money rain due to the term "make it rain". so money is now called rain.

This “make it rain” refers to throwing money up in the air so it floats back down around you. That meaning is mentioned by other people on Urban Dictionary, too.

It’s not clear to me whether the two meanings are related, but it is possible.

Either way, Lee’s meaning is common:

CLAUDIA H. DEUTSCH
The New York Times
21 May 1996
https://nyti.ms/2uqPms5 <https://nyti.ms/2uqPms5>
Title: Women Striving To Make It Rain At Law Firms;Bringing in Business is the Best Path to Partnership
 
Jack Flack
Dealbook/The New York Times
Parsing Rubin: The Exit Memo
21 January 2009
https://nyti.ms/2us4tl0 <https://nyti.ms/2us4tl0>

Rubin: My other role, working with clients and other Citi relationships here and abroad, gave me a keen appreciation of the important place Citi has in the global financial system and global economy.

Translation: I made lots of rain, and I wish somebody would do the math on the return on investment on the $126 million I got paid.

Eric Picard
AdExchanger
How Microsoft Almost Won Digital Advertising
8 July 2015
https://bit.ly/2NehyW0 <https://bit.ly/2NehyW0>

Obviously Google made lots of rain with the DoubleClick platform as well - but given that there are other examples (Rubicon, Casale, OpenX, AppNexus) yes, Microsoft certainly could have done it. 

Mike O'Horo
Orange County Attorney Journal
31 October 2015
https://bit.ly/2upj2Wv <https://bit.ly/2upj2Wv>

Worse, there’s a whole generation of lawyers who made lots of rain for a long time without ever learning how to do it.

Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA



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