What is the proper interpretation of this expression: "April showers bring May flowers."?
There are two possible interpretations of the above expression:
1) April showers bring flowers to the month of May. i.e. “May” and “flowers” are both nouns.
2) April showers cause there to be types of flowers called “May flowers.” i.e. “May” is an adjective that modifies the noun “flowers.”
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25 Answers
I think it is intended as a cause & affect thing. Also, I think the expression is meant to say that good things can come from bad.
I’m not entirely sure, but what I do know: April signifies the end of winter, and along with that comes spring. The name April comes from that Latin word aperire which means “to open”. April clearly has a lot to do with flowers from the get-go.
Okay, I’ve been doing some digging. May is a known traditional nickname for “Mary”, so it could well be some sort of Christian biblical reference. It’s not exactly rare to see her depicted with flower arrangements. (http://www.wf-f.org/WFFResource/Walsingham.jpg)
I’ll keep you posted if I find anything else.
Nice research, but I dont think that the saying has that much meaning. April is always a very rainy, and most of the flowers bloom in May. So I think that the saying means that the rains of April help the nourish the future blooms.
It rains A lot in April and rain is good for flowers which bloom in May.
Your answers are betterthan yahoo’s. At you back everything up with research and just plain common sense, unlike those yahoos.
I just asked an English Teacher I know, and apparently yes – it’s a biblical reference. The flowers Mary is depicted holding in most art bloom in early spring, so the showers of April bring Mary’s flowers.
In fairness, considering many sayings do not hold only one meaning it is likely that all of the reasons discussed here contributed.
And May flowers are flowers in May, to keep it simple. There is a bloom called a mayflower, which, I just discovered is the state flower of Massachusetts.
Grammatically,April showers is the same as May flowers. December sales, March madness, etc.
I love this question.
that is all.
The rain that april brings, causes the flowers to grow in may
But of course, the followup question is
“What do Mayflowers bring?”
=)
thanks. my bad, I knew there was a gh in there somewhere
“The Flowers That Bloom in the Spring, Tra La, have nothing to do with the case.”
“MIkado” by Gilbert and Sullivan.
@bpeoples—Pilgrims, of course.
The way I heard it is March winds April showers May flowers. The March winds spread the seeds which are watered by the April showers to grow the flowers in May.
I thought it was more of a “keep your chin up” and “the sun’ll come out tomorrow” type of saying to help plod us along through the drearies of rainy April…
What are you talking about? They’re not verbs? They’re nouns. The showers in April, cause the flowers to bloom in May.
Not that that is actually true.
I take it to mean, April’s showers bring May’s flowers.
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