What weather phenomenon is described by, “The devil is beating his wife and the angels are crying”?
Email me your answer, and where you grew up (or what influences you were under, as in, parents originally from a different part of the country than where you grew up).
When I witnessed that phenomenon and made that remark, another woman joined in with me and finished the sentence. She was raised in Milwaukee, but her parents were from Louisiana. We were wondering if it’s a widespread expression, American or international or something Southern, possibly even Louisiana- or Mississippi-centric.
I’ll report in when I have answers!
Oh, if you don’t know the answer, you could email me that, too, with the same info.
pb(at)patriciaburroughs(dot)com
Oh. And Happy 4th of July!
July 4, 2006 at 2:51 pm
Did you see the recent “How southern do you speak” test that was going around?
Some people (ahem) scored highly.
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100% B
July 4, 2006 at 2:53 pm
Found it:
http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest.html
Damned straight, skippy.
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B
November 5, 2009 at 12:43 pm
From the Virginia side of DC. My Irish grandmother always used that expression when the sun was shining and it was raining.
July 5, 2006 at 7:46 am
84% Dixie — which surprises me, as many of those terms I use that are Northeastern.
I like that it tells you which regions use which expressions. Cool.
So far the feedback I’m getting about the devil beating his wife is that it’s not at all used in the north, and may be more Texas-centric. Keep ‘em coming!
July 7, 2006 at 3:41 pm
I was born in Alabama raised in Georgia. My grandmother explained it to me when I was about six years old. I think it’s just a southern thing.
July 10, 2006 at 4:13 pm
I’m going to write up my “findings” in the next day or two. Thanks!
September 22, 2006 at 2:25 pm
I had never heard that expression, “the devil is beating his wife” I honestly found it kind of disturbing, here (connecticut) we call it a sunshower, which sounds bright and pretty and other places call it the devil is beating his wife and i was just astounded…yet interested enough to look up the origin of it.
September 22, 2006 at 2:51 pm
Thanks for reminding me of this. I’ll post a new entry about what I found about the origins soon. Please feel free to add anything new you’ve found, too.
May 21, 2007 at 5:53 pm
My parents would say “The devil is beating his wife” when we heard thunder in a rainstorm.
May 21, 2007 at 5:54 pm
My parents would say “The devil is beating his wife” when we heard thunder in a rainstorm. They were both from Levan, Utah, located in the middle of the state
June 13, 2007 at 9:35 am
I can finish the phrase: The Devil is beating his wife around the stump!” This is said in the south when there is what Yankees call a sunshower. It represents the tears of the angels who are sad over this action. Some folks call it a gypsy wedding!
June 15, 2007 at 9:51 am
I use that phrase “The Devil is beating his wife” here in Oklahoma. We actually have countrified it even more by saying the phrase “The Devil is beating his old woman!”
June 19, 2007 at 2:44 pm
My Grandmother used to say when the sun is shining and it is raining at the same time, the devil is beating his wife. That was in the 40s and 50s. We are from Athens, Texas,in East Texas. My grandmothers Grandmother named the town. Her name was Dullcenia Avriette. There is a street there with that name. From Michele In Houston,Tx
June 26, 2007 at 5:10 pm
I grew up in southern Louisiana. The local kids always said “the devil’s beating his wife” when we had a sunshower. My father was from central Texas and my mother was from northern Mississippi. Neither of them ever used this term. I don’t think of it as the least bit Texan, as I have lived in Houston, Corpus Christi, Dallas, and Austin. The only folks who joined me in using the saying were from Louisiana!
July 4, 2007 at 4:34 pm
I’m from MS, near Louisiana. We say this when it’s sunny and raining.
July 7, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Today it’s raining and the sun is shining and I told my boyfriend (who is from Chicago) that the Devil must be beating his wife. He replied what … and I explained the expression of the rain pouring down while it’s sunny outside. He said he has never heard of that and he calls it a sun shower. I was born and raised in Paris TX for 18 years and now I live in FL. I haven’t thought of that phrase in years but I am assuming it’s a southern phrase and I actually never knew what the expression really meant but it was something I said as a kid. But after reading a few comments I can see it’s origin and meaning.
July 8, 2007 at 11:53 am
I love hearing from so many different people on this. Believe it or not — and I really should do an addendum to this entry — the origin appears to be HUNGARIAN. Odd, eh?
July 8, 2007 at 5:59 pm
I’ve grown up hearing this phrase used to describe when it is raining but the sun is shining.
I’ve lived my whole life in the greater houston area, my mom grew up south of houston near the coast. and her father grew up in the vally of texas.
July 8, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Born, bred and lifelong Toledoan and I’ve never heard the expression.
Someone mentions thunder and rainstorms. We say that God or the angels are bowling during the rumbles and He or they get a strike when there is a loud BOOM!
July 11, 2007 at 8:24 pm
I was glad to see this discussion and various explanations for the saying ” the Devil’s beating his wife”, which is often said when it is raining and the sun is shining. My Mom says this and told me that she remembers her Mother saying it while growing up too. All of us are from Irish decent and have resided in Maryland all our lives. Recently I started researching this topic, because my husband (who was born in TX, and lived in Iowa) never heard this expression before hearing me say it.. He has been relentless in making fun of me for it!!!
August 6, 2007 at 4:05 pm
My grandmother told me this saying when I was a child in the 1950’s. She was born in 1896 and raised in Dublin, Georgia (middle of the state). Adding also the stump. The Devil is beating his wife behind a stump”.
August 17, 2007 at 6:02 pm
I grew up in Louisiana, as did both of my parents. We would always use the phrase “The devil is beating his wife..” to describe when it was raining and the sun was shining. I moved to Utah, and I haven’t met anyone (yet) that recognizes this phrase. I got some strange looks when I said this today! I actually was researching the phrase, thinking I was crazy, when I stumbled up on this discussion!
August 31, 2007 at 4:58 pm
My grandmother used this expression, and is the only person I ever heard say it. She was born in Kansas, and rarely left the county of her birth (Greenwood County) until the day she died 86 years later. Her parents were born in the same area, and her grandparents came from either Missouri, Iowa or Illinois. So much for the Southern thing…
September 1, 2007 at 1:01 am
I picked that phrase up as a kid from my mother (among others), and was always kind of mystified that no one else had ever heard of it up here where I was born and raised (Minnesota). “Two shakes of a dead lamb’s tail” is another one I got from her that gets funny looks from the crowd; that one never registers with anybody around here.
Well, although my mom was raised in the Upper Midwest too, she had picked up a lot of idioms from her father (my grandfather), who was a, shall we say … roughly polished … product of the Arkansas Ozarks. And all these things of his she, in turn, handed on down to me, I guess.
Except for the old man’s accent, which never really left the Hills; it’s the one thing my grandfather largely ditched when he packed up, took a northern wife, and left the Hills forever.
September 15, 2007 at 2:24 pm
i am from the south and heard about the devil beating his wife weather thing from my great grandmother.. a very southern lady..had one of those rains yesterday in orlando..so it is southern!! war eagle!
October 19, 2007 at 11:48 am
My mama was from Crossroads, outside of Bay Minette, AL and she said this as long as I can remember. I’ve never heard anyone else recognize it, though. And I never heard the second part (the angels are crying) of the expression.
January 22, 2008 at 7:08 pm
I am from Tennessee and heard all while I was growing up that it means ‘The devil is beating his wife’. I said it too my boss today (I now live in CA) she had never heard this before.
February 10, 2008 at 12:03 pm
..my grandmother is 68 born and raised in Bermuda and she told me when the sun is shining the devils beating his wife also. i think our older generations have a way with handing down traditional analogies.. im happy to see a lot of grandmas out there said the same thing as mine!
February 23, 2008 at 10:35 pm
I grew up In Prince Edward Island Canada and it is very common here, I have also heard it in Newfoundland, it also seems to be used by the Scots and Irish.
February 24, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Ah, that’s interesting and makes sense.
March 6, 2008 at 5:21 pm
I come from a long line of Virginians, and I’ve heard it my whole life. I looked this up because I live in New Jersey now and said it to my Yankee friend the other day, and she looked at me like I was crazy!
By the way, my part of Virginia was settled by the Scots.
March 6, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Which part of Virginia is that? My grandmother’s family originated in Virginia–well, it was Virginia at the time and then became West Virginia! LOL!
April 23, 2008 at 6:39 pm
I’m also from Virginia (Tidewater area) and heard it all my life. My grandparents were from North Carolina and great-grandmother born in Texas and they said it. But I just asked a friend who is from Colorado and she had never heard it.
May 10, 2008 at 7:34 pm
I grew up in Mobile, Alabama. My father, born in Citronelle, Alabama in about 1917 used to always say “the devil is beating his wife” when we had a sunshower. It may be of Scotch-Irish origin since it seems to be fairly wide spread, but most common in the South.
June 2, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Odd that you in Connecticut never heard about about it before and thought it was a Texas thing. I, a Texan, learnt of it in 2001 from an upper-crust boy from Connecticut.
July 3, 2008 at 12:05 am
I grew up in Atlanta,Georgia and my parents and grandparents always said this when there was a sunshower.They are from Alabama and Georgia. Both familys have lived in the south since 1700. I never really questioned the meaning, it was just what you said.I was interested in see what others thought.
July 8, 2008 at 5:08 pm
I grew up in middle Georgia and it was a common expression. I said it to a co-worker in Cleveland, OH and she looked at me like I was crazy! I think that part of my family was from east TN but not sure.
July 11, 2008 at 8:44 am
I just searched this as we have a sunshower this morning and I recollected my Irish mother born and raised in Chicago saying that expression. Her grandmother originated from central Illinois ( Paxton) and came to Chicago in the 1890’s and it may have come from her.
July 12, 2008 at 6:13 pm
I was born in Ohio, parents from Mississippi, they use to say this when the sun was out and it was raining. Never heard of a “sunshower.” That is probably the politically correct term, but old sayings are more fun! Just like saying it is raining cats and dogs, now we all know there is no such thing, but we all understand it means it is pouring outside!
August 8, 2008 at 9:43 am
I’m from southern Virginia. I first heard the expression from my grandmother. My wife (from New York) had never heard it and finds it disturbing. I suppose the beating of one’s wife is what bothers her. although you must ask yourself what kind of wife would Satan have?
Wikipedia has a wealth of information on this phrase.
August 8, 2008 at 6:21 pm
I heard the phrase from my parents and grandparents who were all from Indiana.
August 13, 2008 at 9:26 am
I heard that expression all my life growing up in New Orleans’ seventh ward.
October 15, 2008 at 10:38 am
I am born and raised in Texas. The variation that I have always said is that the devil’s wife is crying. From reading this thread I guess when I heard the phrase it was someone mixing the phrase up and trying to keep it nice.
November 11, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I learned it from my grandmother who has lived in Mississippi her entire life.
March 4, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Just heard the expression for the 1st time today and you were my first bit of research!
May 14, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Baltimore Maryland in the 1950’s: My grandmother always said “The devil must be beating his wife!” whenever there was a sunshower. The raindrops were the angels’ tears. When i mentioned that expression to my wife who is from Minnesota and, later, Ohio, she had never heard it. So far, none of my co-workers in Columbus, Ohio had heard it, either.
May 24, 2009 at 1:29 pm
My great grandmother said it when it was raining with the sun out. We are from all over Texas. Athens and then later West Texas – Denver City. It happen to be raining today with the sun out so I said it and my kids needed me to look up the origin on the internet. Very common to hear in Southeast Texas/Southwest Louisiana.
May 25, 2009 at 4:16 pm
I grew up in Alabama, my Mom always said when it rained while shining, The Devil’s wife burned his biscuits… maybe she did not like the beating part and changed it??
May 30, 2009 at 4:59 am
I grew up in Chicago but my grandmother and mother would always say “the devil was beating his wife ” when it was a sunshower. Both were from Orriville, Alabama! My husband had never heard of it and was completely confuse upon the statement.
July 6, 2009 at 5:15 pm
The expression was common when I was a boy among the residents of Bachelors Hall, Virginia where I grew up. As very few, if any, of those old timers had been more than 50 miles from home, and all were from families which had lived in the area for generations, I have always assumed it to be of rural Southern (or English or Scots Irish) origin.
July 26, 2009 at 7:09 pm
We had a rainfall while it was still sunny out 3 days in a row here in DC. I kept telling everyone that the devil is really beating the hell out of his wife. LOL!!!
I’m from Houston, Texas. My family is from Louisiana(all over). I googled where the saying came from and your blog popped up. Did you ever find any information?
August 6, 2009 at 1:33 pm
I’m from Penderlea North Carolina, about 40 miles northeast of Wilmington NC. I’m 41 and I always heard my grandparents and parents both say “The devil’s must be beating his wife because the angels are crying.” when it rained while the sun was out. My mother still says it and I use the term as well. Don’t know where it originated from though. I would be interested in hearing if you know.
August 27, 2009 at 11:48 am
I am from Atlanta, GA and my Dad (also an Atlanta native) told me about this saying regarding rain and sunshine when I was a little kid. On a side note, he also extended the saying to include a scenario where sunshine when it’s snowing might mean Santa is beating his wife… (Needless to say, we have a sick sense of humor in my house).
Anyhow, I used the saying last night (the one about rain and the devil, that is) and a friend from Haiti was surprised as they have the same saying there. It made me wonder if it the saying may have originated with African Americans settling in the South (and also Caribbean)…
October 1, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Hey..
I live in Curacao(Caribbean, close to Aruba).. and here we also have the same saying.. and I bet that everyone here in this region uses this same expression too.. I wonder where it comes from and what’s the thought behind it.. :-/
October 5, 2009 at 1:37 pm
I’m from Clay County, Mississippi and grew up hearing this phrase referring to it raining while the sun was shining. My family’s background is Irish and Dutch.
October 6, 2009 at 6:03 am
I was born and raised in Alexandria, Virginia in 1955, as was my Grandmother, who was born there in 1906. She used the expression for all of my young life, and said she learned it from her mother-in-law from High Point, NC.
October 29, 2009 at 2:14 pm
I was raised in East Texas, and always used that saying. Didn’t think anything about until I went off to College.
November 17, 2009 at 4:22 pm
My dad would say “The devil is beating his wife” during a sunshower, but if there was thunder while the moon was out it was “the devil is beating his mother.”
I asked where it came from and he said it wa an old Irish folk tale.