Thank you, weather

Weather is arguably man's and woman's most dependable companion. There's never a day without it. So here's to weather!

Perhaps the British have known about the importance of weather the longest, hence their famed weather conversation intros like "A bit nippy today, ay?"


An animal factor is added in Germany; here, the weather is made – or at least predicted – by frogs that climb ladders. Up is good, I believe.

I've been told that frogs in the wild are accurate to a tittle* in their predictions provided that they can find a ladder. Another problem is that they're hardly ever seen.

So the weather stations make do with ladder-equipped jarred frogs, which explains some of the inaccuracy of German forecasts.

* This expression dates back to at least 1607 (see World Wide Words). A simplified form is generally in use today, which will most likely be further simplified in the future.