Rain, rain and more rain

So I can across this letter in last Friday's Irish Times (26th May) from Breándan Ó Cróinin and I had to post a choice selection of his Gaeilge rain vocabulary given the recent spell of weather.

• Rain - báisteach or fearthainn


• Drizzle / Misty rain - ceobhrán or brádán, e.g. Tá sé ag draonán báistí or Tá sé ag dríodarnach báistí


• Light rain - ceathanna, múrtha or scrabhanna báistí


• Showery weather - aimsir cheathach or aimsir spairniúil


• Scattered rain / Light shower - craobhmhúr


• Occasional rain - breacbháisteach


• Rain blown on the wind - seadbháisteach


• Sprinkle of rain - spréachbhraon fearthainne


• Heavy / Torrential rain - batharnach, clagairt, clagarnach, dallcairt, forlacht, gleidearnach, stealladh, tuile or tabhairt mhaith báistí


• Raining cats and dogs - ag cur foirc agus sceana (Munster Irish), ag cur sceana gréasai (Connemara Irish) or ag cur balc báistí (Ulster Irish)

I suppose the recent weather on the political front should also be mentioned as despite spending more than the average industrial wage on make-up, poor old Bertie is definitely under the weather.

Speaking of the poor weather is a good prod to think about signing up for the climate pledge campaign which is run by the Friends of the Earth Ireland branch for more details (PDF). If that is too heavy, try something bizarre like this list of Japanese Sound effects and what they mean.