Wolves and Owls

Posted on 2006/02/20 13:58:34 (February 2006).

[20th February 2006]

In Italy we have a couple of saying that are quite common when describing very bad weather. "Tempo da Lupi" and "Tempo da Gufi" (although the latter is less common), is what you would say describing the atmospheric conditions that struck the Como and Varese provinces in the last two days.
"Tempo" means weather, while "Lupi" means wolves and "Gufi" means owls. Loosely translated we could say that it's a "Weather suited for wolves or owls".
Imagine rain, cold and fog, all together (hardly possible rain and fog are not exactly friends) from 5 in the morning till late at night. I guess that the expression comes from the fact that in a weather like this you can hardly see anything, and the only thing that you can hear are wolves and owls waiting to feast on your dead body (I know that owls are not cannibals, but it's a nice image), lost in the Blakeian reminiscence of the "forests of the night".

On Saturday and Sunday it has been raining continuously for 48 hours, good for my car as it needed a washing, very bad for any kind of activity that involved getting out of home.

Strong on the fact that Sunday marks the beginning of the week, Monday was even crapper (if possible) with a nice mist that doesn't allow to see further than 10 meters...
All in all a bad start.

Tomorrow all my colleagues are going to Paris for the usual fair that we have there.
This year on the top of skipping the presentation of the collection (good), I am also skipping the trip to Paris because of my leg (very good).
It's like if I am already out of this company (shame that it's not that way) though I know it has been just a twist of bad fortune (I don't consider the knee injury a good thing) that prevented me to go.
As a result I will be ALONE in the office for four days.
I still have to decide if it's good or bad, I will have to do all the things that the girls do (checking orders, shipping instructions, blah blah blah), but I also think that I will have quite a bit of free time all by myself... At least now I can speak to someone...

Oh well, I'll cross that bridge tomorrow!

In French you say *temps de chien*, litteraly *tempo da cani* and *froid de canard*, that is *freddo da anatre*. Don't ask me why...!
Actually, I believe you say *Fa un freddo cane* in Italian, don't you?

Posted by Sheri at 2006/02/21 10:57:33.

Yep, that is also another way of describing the weather, I like the "canard" saying... :)

Posted by Lox at 2006/02/21 24:52:14.

Ha! Now I wonder why we English say : "It's raining cats and dogs" ? Doesn't make any real sense but perhaps there is some distant, historical core to the story which pops-up all over europe?

Posted by Nigel at 2006/02/21 16:10:20.

Mmm I think that it has to do with some mystic link between animals and bad weather... Whatever that link might be escapes my reason, but still...

Posted by Lox at 2006/02/21 19:40:18.

I mean we could mix up all together to have a European format:

"Oh bloody hell, it's raining cats, canards and wolves!"

Posted by Lox at 2006/02/21 19:41:33.

Nigel, so do you think in biblical times there was a cataclysmic "raining cat and dogs" type event that no-one quite remembers except through obscure language references ? Perhaps Moses was lying in his bed and a cat, being chased by a dog across the roof of his house crashed through, Moses stood up shouting "Oh Bloody hell its raining cats and dogs!" hence the phrase ?

Posted by kev at 2006/02/21 19:56:35.

Lox/Kev: Both ideas would work for me!!

On the biblical front, maybe it was actually Noah!! That would make sense! Although it would have to rain in pairs...

Then there's the old "Nice weather for ducks!" quote, which I can understand. However when a storm finishes and the sun comes out again, no-one eber says "Nice weather for Doves!"

Hmm...

Posted by Nigel at 2006/02/21 20:18:02.

wouldn't fancy being a duck at the moment. duck1:"Anyone seen charlie recently" duck2:"not since yesterday, i noticed he had a bit of a sniffle! - ho hum well i'm off to blighty(*cough cough*)".

Posted by kev at 2006/02/21 22:44:33.

Duks seem to be popular in "common sense" phrases... I remember an english "... falling off like water on the duck's back".
As for a "Duck's weather" let me extend the conversation below:

Duck 3: "Ehi guys! I have heard that there is a nice mild weather in Asia, near Vietnam! I am flying off there, it's getting all flu-ish over here!"

Posted by Lox at 2006/02/22 08:55:25.

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