How inappropriate can you be?

This afternoon, for a while, it was raining AND the sun was shining.

It reminded me of what people used to say where I come from when that happened.

They would say: "the Devil is beating his wife."

Satanism and domestic abuse all rolled into one! How inappropriate can you be?

I never heard anyone explain why they said that, just as people never explained all sorts of aphorisms they had about things. It makes no real sense. Was the rain or the sunshine symbolizing the Devil? The beating must be the rain, so how is the sun the Devil?

It's as inexplicable as my father's insistence that if you left our home and turned around to come back for something you forgot you absolutely, positively had to sit down for a moment. Bad luck not to. Go figure how that came up.

Some other sayings from my childhood I can't figure out how they came to be:

"Diddly Squat" for 'nothing'.

"Thin as a hen's skin" for being sensitive.

"Naked as a jay bird"--jay birds have feathers.

"Haven't seen you in a coon's age"--how old do raccoons get?

"Flying off the handle" for getting angry.

"Can't get blood from a turnip" when someone won't give you what you want.

"Gussied up" for being well dressed.

"Worn slap out" for being exhausted.

Go try to figure out where all that comes from.

Shalom and good luck.