When It Rains It Pours
My job can be pretty busy sometimes. Even when there is some free time, supervisors like to schedule meetings. But there are also times when things get really busy. A supervisor will have a meeting with us and assign some work. Then, another supervisor will ask us to help with something else. We also might need to learn new technology or volunteer baking bread as well. It always seems to be in the same week. It can be overbearing and frustrating.
The phrase, when it rains it pours, means that when something bad happens, a lot of other bad things happen at the same time. ‘Pouring’ is a way to describe heavy rain. I briefly discussed some rain terminology in a video last year. So, rain is metaphorical in this phrase. It stands for hard times or when bad things happen. So, a little bit of rain isn’t that bad, but pouring rain means a lot of bad things are happening at one time.
When it rains it pours is often used to show helplessness. It shows how difficult your situation is and has a feeling of being overwhelmed. It might feel like everything in your life is going wrong.
Example: Last night I had some loud customers come to my restaurant. It made the other customers uncomfortable, they complained about the food, one of my staff members quit and the power went out. When it rains it pours.
When it rains it pours has an interesting origin. It is from a salt company. In 1911, the Morton Salt Company started using calcium silicate in their salt. It allowed their salt to pour well even in damp weather. One common problem with salt at the time was that it would clump together in wet weather. They chose a girl with an umbrella as their mascot, but needed a catchphrase to go with her. At first they tried an older proverb: “It never rains, but it pours.” They felt that phrase was too negative. So, they simplified it to when it rains it pours. It is ironic that their new phrase would become the idiom we use to describe the worst situations.
See also: Adding insult to injury
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Reference:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/when-it-rains-it-pours_n_1344667
http://www.thisdayinquotes.com/2009/11/when-it-rains-it-pours-started-out-as_06.html
