Past Hokudai/Cast Entries

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Hokudai/Cast 78: Rainy Days and School

Click on the title to hear Hokudai/Cast 78
Click on the player at left to hear these notes.

Rain.
It's raining cats and dogs. Save for a rainy day. Don't rain on my parade. These are sayings using the word 'rain.' In the first one rain actually means rain. When it rains cats and dogs, a lot of rain is pouring down. Nobody knows why cats and dogs are associated with heavy rain, however. 

A rainy day is not necessarily a day. It could be a period of time (a day, week, month, or year) when things are bad - maybe you have no job or the pay is very low. Instead of spending all of your money when things are good, you should save some for when things are bad (a rainy day.) 

Rain on a parade is not a good thing. Everyone gets wet and the people watching the parade run away to seek shelter in the storm. The sentence "Don't rain on my parade" is asking people not to make you feel bad about something you feel good about. 

On the opposite side of the street we have "Take a walk on the sunny side of the street." This means be optimistic (cheerful and happy). This should not be confused with 'Sunny side up' which is one way to cook eggs.


Music in Hokudai/Cast 78 is:
 "A Little Rain" by Tongue of the Dog 


Additional music is "Lava" by Manzi.

Some sound effects are from Freesound.
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Mirai Sozo is the School of Future Learning at Hokuriku University. The primary focus is on language (English and Chinese) and management (hospital administration, sports, and business).
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