I’m in need of some help here. My gran would always tell me to “never cast a clout until May is out” and to be honest, for most of my childhood, I never knew what on earth she was talking about.  Apparently, since the 15th century ‘clout’ is a word that has been used to describe a fragment of cloth or clothing and could be spelled as clowt, clowte, cloot, or clute.

It’s here that the saying took on two meanings, rather than just the one original.  The new meaning was a reminder not to be too quick to chuck the winter clothes before cooler days during the month of May were most likely over.  I think that has happened this weekend!
I’d put my best thermals away in the evening and woke up to chilly rain this morning. My gran was right!

We do have our fair share of rain here in Wales, but the older you get, the more likely you are to utter the words “the garden needed it though” after a nice dry spell.

Do you ever use phrases handed down from generation to generation? Let me know!