Pearoasted Sharp Showers
About five or six years ago, weather forecasters (especially the Met Office ones on the BBC) started using the phrase "sharp showers". I hadn't ever heard it before, either on weather forecasts or in daily use, so I asked around several of my pals to see if they knew what it meant and got several different answers.

I posted questions on teh interwebs asking if anyone else knew, to no avail. Mostly, the responses I got indicated that nobody else really knew what they were talking about either.

After a while, about 18 months ago, I got so irritated that I phoned the Met Office switchboard and asked them how they defined "sharp showers".

It means "sudden, heavy showers". I did ask why they couldn't just say that, and they said that in the short slots they get to do bulletins, one syllable could make then run over time. Which sort of makes sense.

No need to thank me. What problem shall I solve next?
{expecting lots of insults}
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Fri 14 Oct 2011, 13:16, 5 replies)

what did you expect them to answer?
Razor blades falling from the sky perhaps?
(Greencloud Wanted to go fishing on, Fri 14 Oct 2011, 13:23, closed)

Without wishing to come across as some sort of horrible bully,
you, and all your friends, are morons.

Either that, or English is not your first language, in which case I take it back.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Fri 14 Oct 2011, 14:09, closed)

^This^

( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 14 Oct 2011, 14:45, closed)

Nope, you come across as a horrible bully.
Or maybe it's just a regional thing that you're used to and I'm not. I'd just never heard anyone use "sharp showers" as a phrase to describe weather and couldn't find anyone else that had either.
( shinyshinyscalp less a man, more a way of life, Mon 17 Oct 2011, 14:43, closed)

Ring them back
and ask them what the fuck 'spits and spots' are.
( His Popiness the Hole Invaded Poland on, Sun 16 Oct 2011, 20:47, closed)