# Melt in the rain: sugar or witch? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 10, 2017, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896 "2017-07-10T04:40:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/1 "2017-07-10T04:40:49Z")
If you melt in the rain, are you sugar or a witch? Northerners like **Eustacia** and me were told when growing up: “Don’t worry about going in the rain; you’re not sugar, you won’t melt.” Now she brings me reports of Southern kids being told: “If you’re bad you’re a witch and you’ll melt in the rain.” When you answer the poll, please also post what part of the country you’re from. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/2 "2017-07-10T04:44:10Z")
Never heard of either saying before outside of the Oz reference. Grew up in ohio. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/3 "2017-07-10T04:47:24Z")
Southern California: Expressed as a negative – “Sure it’s raining, but don’t worry. I’m not so sweet that I’ll melt.” ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/4 "2017-07-10T06:00:36Z")
I heard it as sugar or shit. It’s just a little rain and you aren’t made of sugar or shit so you aren’t going to melt or float away. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/5 "2017-07-10T07:48:50Z")
If I melt, I am both sugar and witch/warlock . . . Evil Sweetness. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/6 "2017-07-10T08:17:06Z")
I’ve never heard either in the context of rain, and only the witch thing in direct association with Oz. “Don’t worry - you’re wet enough already” was fairly common when I was growing up (Southern England) - and “wet” in this context implies naive/sappish ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/7 "2017-07-10T11:53:02Z")
Never heard either. Pennsylvania. Someone left the cake out in the rain, though, and apparently that’s a bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/8 "2017-07-10T12:09:10Z")
Dorothy was a murdering bitch! (Does that answer your question?) ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/9 "2017-07-10T12:12:04Z")
I think I first heard of it in a Saki story where the people turned out to actually be made of sugar. EDIT: However, my personal version is “Don’t worry, I’m not the Wicked Witch of the West.” I didn’t realized that was a Thing elsewhere, though; thought I was just being a smart alec. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/10 "2017-07-10T12:56:58Z")
Bees are on the what now? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/11 "2017-07-10T13:08:42Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > I think I first heard of it in a Saki story where the people turned out to actually be made of sugar. I think I first heard of it in a short story by Isaac Asimov. ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/12 "2017-07-10T13:11:28Z")
Sugar - I grew up in Connecticut, with my parents hailing from Maine and New Hampshire. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/13 "2017-07-10T13:54:33Z")
I heard it as sugar with the come-back that salt melts as well. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/14 "2017-07-10T15:12:05Z")
I’m not from your country, but still was told that I wasn’t made of sugar. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/15 "2017-07-10T15:19:30Z")
Sugar. I’ve heard it as long as I can remember. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/16 "2017-07-10T15:39:22Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > If you melt in the rain, are you sugar or a witch? > > Northerners like **Eustacia** and me were told when growing up: “Don’t worry about going in the rain; you’re not sugar, you won’t melt.” > > Now she brings me reports of Southern kids being told: “If you’re bad you’re a witch and you’ll melt in the rain.” > > When you answer the poll, please also post what part of the country you’re from. My husband used to say the opposite- he’d give me his umbrella or jacket, because “I was so sweet I’d melt in the rain.” He was born in the northeast but grew up in the south, but his parents were generations-back New Englanders, so who knows. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/17 "2017-07-10T16:38:47Z")
Born and raised in the south, never heard the witch version. ---
**Author:** ![stretch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@stretch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stretch)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/18 "2017-07-10T17:13:29Z")
I’ve lived in Washington state all my life, and always heard sugar. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/19 "2017-07-10T17:22:52Z")
Sugar. Southern California. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896/20 "2017-07-10T18:26:44Z")
Northeast (raised in MD, parents from NJ), and I only remember hearing “You won’t melt!” if my brother or I complained about going out in the rain. Neither sugar nor witches were mentioned specifically, but it was always clearly a reference to the _Wizard of Oz_/Wicked Witch of the West. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/melt-in-the-rain-sugar-or-witch/790896.md?page=2)