Is there any reason for people to instinctively avoid walking in the rain, or are we culturally conditioned to avoid it? Are there any cultures that don’t mind being rained on?
absorbent clothes. i love walking in the rain if i know i can change/dry up easily.
Well, we don’t avoid the shower or waterfalls, do we? I think a lot of the annoyance of rain on an instinctual level comes from being hit on the head repeatedly and getting water in the eyes. Take that away, and in my experience, rain isn’t a big deal.
Humans don’t have good natural insulation. We depend on clothing to do that for us in most climates and most clothing doesn’t take well to being rained on especially if you have to go indoors right away. Rain tends to cool us down too much except in the warmest weather and even then it can make it hard to see if it is raining hard. Most people hate showers the temperature of even warmish rain as well so there is a temperature component to it.
Humans aren’t the only animals to avoid rain or spraying water however. Animals like dogs and cats almost universally despise being sprayed with a water hose for example and will do almost anything to get away from it.
Being out in the ocean surfing in the rain is wonderful. Hey, you’re already wet and certainly can’t get any wetter. And the rain always feels warmer than the ocean water.
Surfing involves a lot of sitting on your board waiting for the next wave. These waits can be several minutes or longer. Normally the water is about at your waist when you’re on your board, so one is quite exposed to the rain. Its not like swimming where only your head is out of the water. My friends and I occasionally get pounded by rain, but it doesn’t bother us. Often times when its raining, the wind stops which makes for smooth swells and great surfing. Rain keeps the crowds down, too.
Surfing in the rain in southern California is fun, but doing it in Hawaii is the best. Between the warm ocean water and the* liquid sunshine* falling from the sky, things can hardly get better.
However, when we finally get out of the water, we head for shelter. Sitting on the beach in the rain is no picnic.
I dunno… walking in the rain… when it’s raining cats and dogs… you might step in a poodle. HAHAHAHA!
Not to hijack the thread but the ocean water in Hawaii isn’t very warm at all. I visited there there again two months ago and spent as much time as possible in the ocean. It is passable at best. You won’t get hypothermia right away but my Coast Guard officer younger brother showed me the survivability charts for people lost in the water in Hawaii and it isn’t infinite. They will freeze to death even there if they can’t be rescued in time.
I ran out of the ocean straight to the car when it was raining hard a few times simply because I was so cold. Once you get out of the water, the evaporation caused by rain will make you shiver quickly.
The Pacific Ocean sucks when it comes to temperature tolerable water. I was shocked when I found out how freezing the water off of LA is all the time. I bitched about the ridiculous New England water temperatures for a long time until I found out that the water actually gets warmer on Cape Cod during the summer than in California. God Bless the Atlantic Ocean in Florida and the Caribbean where the water temperature is tolerable to a tropical species like ours.
Maybe on YOUR side of it… don’t malign a whole ocean for that! (24C=75F)
Wet clothing.
Exactly. Wet clothing is uncomfortable (it sticks to your body) and also loses much of its insulating power, as water replaces air in the gaps between the fibres. So unless you’re somewhere really hot, you’re going to want to get out of the rain.
That said, even in England’s far-from-tropical climate, I quite enjoy cycling in torrential rain, once I’ve got to the point where I am soaked through and can’t get any wetter. The key, though, is that I know I can get warm and dry soon when I get home.
I think that in temperate zones the unpleasant feeling of wet clothing is also connected with the potential for catching a cold.
But part of it is definitely cultural–I’ve lived in and visited tropical countries and seen people run out to take a shower in the rain (especially in the countryside and areas where access to running water /tap water is limited). In fact in the Philippines there was a commercial for some kind of bath soap or shampoo that used the tune of “Singing in the Rain” but the video and words were about the wonderful feeling of taking a bath in the rain. In fact I found a couple of references to bathing in the rain:
From http://members.multimania.nl/katutubo/index-7pinoyfacts.html: “takes a bath in the rain particularly in May because it’s good for the health.”
When was the last time you bathed in the rain? / myLot
“I love bathing in rain…
It’s rainy season here…N last time i bathed in rain was last night.”
In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, set in colonial Nigeria, there’s a character who is laughed at because she doesn’t like getting wet in the rain. They call her “Salt” mockingly and tell her she won’t melt in the rain. I was talking to a friend from Uganda a few years ago–it was a rainy day and someone made a comment about getting wet and he used a similar expression saying “I am not salty, I won’t melt”
And how about “The Pina Colada Song”: “If you like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain…”
It depends where you live. In a colder climate, being out in wet clothes can be very uncomfortable and even life-threatening.
I can’t remember what book I read it in, but I recall that the indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego went completely naked in the horrible cold and rainy weather that is common there. When Europeans gave them clothing all it did was become soaked through, making them more miserable than ever.
My neighbor washes his car in the rain. :dubious: but yes, it’s true.
Good idea. Save water - Shower with a Ferrari.
