How to Read “On rainy days, the weather is bad”
Ame no furu hi wa tenki ga warui
Meaning of “On rainy days, the weather is bad”
“On rainy days, the weather is bad” is a proverb that expresses something extremely obvious or self-evident. When it’s raining, anyone can see that the weather is bad.
This proverb points out how meaningless it is to state such obvious truths.
People use this saying when someone explains something obvious in an exaggerated way. It also applies when someone restates something everyone already knows.
You might say “That’s like saying on rainy days, the weather is bad.” This gently conveys the message “That’s obvious, isn’t it?”
People use this expression because it’s softer than directly saying “That’s obvious.” Using a metaphor lets you make your point without hurting the other person’s feelings.
Even today, the spirit of this proverb lives on in meetings and discussions. It applies when someone explains well-known facts at length.
However, people rarely say these exact words out loud. Instead, the meaning is understood when you think to yourself “That’s obvious.”
Origin and Etymology
No clear written records exist about the origin of this proverb. However, thinking about how it came to be reveals some interesting aspects.
The expression “On rainy days, the weather is bad” seems too obvious to need to exist as a proverb. But that’s exactly where the essence of this saying lies.
This proverb probably emerged from contexts of irony and satire. Someone might have exaggerated an obvious fact or spoken as if they’d discovered something self-evident.
In such situations, people began saying “That’s like saying on rainy days, the weather is bad.”
Japan has long had a culture of communicating things indirectly. Rather than directly saying “That’s obvious,” people used metaphorical expressions like this.
This approach allowed them to make their point gently, sometimes with humor.
The establishment of this proverb may also reflect influences from logic and rhetoric. Tautology refers to logically meaningless expressions that repeat the same thing.
By deliberately making such an expression into a proverb, people created a cautionary lesson against meaningless arguments and explanations.
Usage Examples
- His explanation was like saying on rainy days, the weather is bad – it contained no new information
- That’s the same as saying on rainy days, the weather is bad – everyone already knows that
Universal Wisdom
The proverb “On rainy days, the weather is bad” highlights a fundamental challenge in human communication. It shows how we often lose sight of the boundary between “what needs to be said” and “what goes without saying.”
Why do people state the obvious? It might be fear of silence or a desire to show their presence.
Sometimes people simply can’t gauge the other person’s level of understanding. When someone repeats known facts in meetings or tends to over-explain, there’s often a deeper reason.
Behind such behavior lies a fundamental human desire to be recognized and to contribute.
This proverb has been passed down through generations because it captures an eternal dilemma of human society. Sharing information is important.
However, repeating already-shared information wastes time. It can also bore others or make them feel looked down upon.
Our ancestors understood the difficulty of this delicate balance. That’s why they created this metaphorical expression instead of directly saying “That’s obvious.”
It reflects the sensitive Japanese communication style of cautioning against meaningless explanations while protecting the other person’s dignity.
When AI Hears This
The human brain automatically tries to understand information by dividing it into “cause” and “effect.” What’s strange about this sentence is that it’s logically saying the exact same thing twice.
Yet many people accept it without feeling anything odd.
Cognitive science research shows that the human brain categorizes words within about 0.2 seconds of hearing them. The word “rain” gets processed as a physical phenomenon that weather sensors detect.
“The weather is bad” gets processed as an evaluation related to human comfort. In other words, the brain puts them into separate drawers labeled “objective fact” and “subjective judgment.”
After this categorization, the brain automatically starts looking for causal relationships. For example, “An apple is a red fruit” doesn’t feel strange because “apple” and “red fruit” get processed as different information hierarchies in the brain.
What’s even more interesting is how language structure itself reinforces this illusion. The sentence pattern “A is B” is learned as a typical pattern for expressing causation or explanation in human language.
A brain that has received information in this format tens of thousands of times since childhood reflexively feels “explained to” when it sees the same structure.
In other words, the grammatical pattern masks the emptiness of the content.
Lessons for Today
This proverb teaches modern people about the importance of “valuable information” in communication. We live in an age of information overload, surrounded by massive amounts of messages every day.
The ability to distinguish truly meaningful information from the rest is more important than ever.
When you communicate something, does it provide the other person with a new perspective or insight? Whether in meeting comments, email text, or social media posts, develop the habit of asking yourself “Is this worth saying?”
Don’t just repeat the obvious. Deliver unique insights and information that only you can provide.
At the same time, this proverb teaches us about our attitude as listeners. When someone states the obvious, don’t dismiss them outright.
Instead, consider why that person needed to say it. Perhaps there’s anxiety or a need for confirmation behind their words.
Balancing efficiency with compassion is what mature communication looks like in modern society.
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