Wednesday, March 21, 2012

When It Rains It Pours

Who knew.

From HuffPo...
When it rains, it pours. 
It's the expression that allows us to say something when there's really nothing else to say. It helps us make sense of a string of bad luck. But where did that expression come from? 
Its origin comes from a fairly unlikely place: the Morton Salt Company.  
In 1911, the company had started adding magnesium carbonate, an anti-caking agent, to salt; this allowed it to pour freely.  Before that addition, salt would clump if the weather wasn't agreeable. The company wanted to emphasize the idea that this salt would pour freely, even in damp weather. 
The famous umbrella girl was the first idea decided upon, and from there the team worked on coming up with the copy. The original pitch was "Even in rainy weather, it flows freely," but they found that too long. They tried the old proverb, "It never rains, but it pours," but found it too negative. And, eventually found one that was just right: "When it rains, it pours."

1 comment:

Anita said...

I like cliches, mantras, proverbs, sayings, idioms, etc.

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