'It's raining pocket knives': Hurricane Sandy inspires unusual figures of speech

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Streets are under water as Hurricane Sandy approaches October 29, 2012 in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Hurricane Sandy is expected to make landfall between Atlantic City and Cape May around 6p.m.

As Hurricane Sandy causes massive destruction on the East Coast, the inquisitive Mental Floss reports on the expression (and non-racist Halloween costume idea) "It's raining cats and dogs" and examines how the rest of the world describes a downpour.

Disastrous deluges, shown historically to hydrate a human propensity for idiom construction, have flooded the planet with fanciful, unusual and somewhat sexist figures of speech regarding this type of weather event. Take a sip of the list below. Full details via Mental Floss:

Denmark

• "It’s raining cobbler boys," or "It's raining shoemakers’ apprentices."
• "Det regner skomagerdrenge."

France

• "It’s raining like a pissing cow."
• "Il pleut comme vache qui pisse."

Norway

• "It’s raining troll women," or "It’s raining witches."
• "Det regner trollkjerringer."

Germany

• "It’s raining puppies."
• "Es regnet junge Hunde."

Brazil

• "It’s raining pocket knives," and "It’s raining frogs’ beards."
• "Está chovendo canivetes" and "Está chovendo barba de sapo."

China

• "Dog poo is falling."
• "Luò Goushi"

Slovakia

• "Tractors are falling."
• "Padajú traktory."

Namibia

• "It’s raining old women with clubs."
• "Ou vrouens met knopkieries reen."

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