"Take a Rain Check" Idiom Meaning, Origin & History | Superduper English Idioms
Channel: Superduper English Idioms
Date: 01/08/2020

0:00 - How to Say, “Take a rain check…”
0:17 - Examples of “Take a rain check…”
0:43 - Meaning of “Take a rain check…”
1:48 - Origin of “Take a rain check…”
3:04 - More Examples of “Take a rain check…”
3:53 - Conclusion

“Take a rain check…”

You may have heard someone politely refuse something by saying, “I’ll take a rain check.”

Your friends might ask you out to the beach, “My tummy hurts today, how about a rain check?”

“I can’t go camping with you guys this weekend, but I would love a rain check,” your cousin might say due to his or her business.

As you can tell, the idiom, “take a rain check,” is a polite way to turn something down, but with the implication that it is desired at a later date.

However, “take a rain check” can also be used to politely turn something down without the desire to actually take up the offer, ever.

Maybe your friend offers you cricket ice cream, “I’ll take a rain check, insect ice cream doesn’t sound very appetizing!”

Or perhaps your friend invites you out to graffiti something, “I can’t afford to get arrested today, or ever! I’ll take a rain check!”

“Rain check” originates with baseball; if a game was delayed due to rain, fans would be given “rain checks”, which were vouchers for a game at a later date.

Around the 1950s, rainchecks became common in shopping, where they would be given to customers who were unable to buy a sale item because it was sold out…

… customers could bring back the raincheck at a later date and get the item at the sale price.

In the idiom, “rain check”, the word “check” does not refer to the banking instrument, “check” or “cheque”...

… but instead refers to a coupon or voucher, similar to “coat check” or “checked baggage” on a flight.

Your friend might ask you to go for a coffee, “I’ll have to take a rain check, my house is a mess and I really need to get it clean today!”

“I would love some cake right now, but I’ll have to take a rain check as I’m on a diet,” you might tell your friend during a coffee.

Maybe your classmates ask you out to a game of lacrosse, “Thanks, but I’ll have to take a rain check - too much homework this weekend!”

So, whenever you want to politely turn someone down - with or without the possibility of taking them up on the offer at a later date - don’t forget to, “take a rain check.”

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