The story
For a long time, English speakers said “it never rains but it pours.” The idea was simple: bad luck rarely arrives as a single drop. One problem shows up, and a downpour follows.
The saying was around by the early 1700s. In 1726, a short piece usually credited to the Scottish writer John Arbuthnot carried the title “It Cannot Rain But It Pours.” No one knows exactly who said it first.
Then came salt. Ordinary table salt clumps in damp weather. In 1911 the Morton Salt company began adding magnesium carbonate to keep its salt flowing. In 1914 it launched an ad campaign with a little girl under an umbrella and a new slogan: “When it rains, it pours.” Morton meant it as good news. Its salt poured even on rainy days.
The slogan’s brisk wording caught on, especially in America. Today “when it rains, it pours” has largely replaced the older form, and it is back to meaning what the old proverb meant: troubles like to arrive together.
