Talk:gullywasher

These books support the presence of the term in Texas and Montana:

• 2008, Jonathan Raban, Surveillance, page 110

  "In Montana, we'd call this a gullywasher."

  "Gullywasher. I like that."

• 2010, Wait a Minute, God's Still Talking (Warren Powell, Mary Beth Powell), page 112:

  “It's a Gully Washer!” That's Texas talk for a really heavy, fast-falling rain.

- -sche (discuss) 00:33, 30 September 2012 (UTC)

And this one supports its presence in the South:

• 2000, The Southern Forest: Geography, Ecology, and Silviculture (Laurence C. Walker, Brian P. Oswald), page 19:

  Here, the old southern term "gullywasher" expresses a tragic truth as it describes intense summer thunderstorms common to the area.

- -sche (discuss) 00:39, 30 September 2012 (UTC)

Actually, more than I wonder about the note that this is a Southern/Midwestern term, I wonder about the claim that it's dated elsewhere. Was is ever common elsewhere (a prerequisite for being dated elsewhere)? - -sche (discuss) 00:51, 30 September 2012 (UTC)

It just seems rural to me. Urban living doesn't provide the circumstance, at least in the US where the kerb senses don't exist. DCDuring TALK 01:19, 30 September 2012 (UTC)

RHU has it, without any usage tag at all. DCDuring TALK 01:22, 30 September 2012 (UTC)

Google News (last 30 days) has a dozen hits: (Western) WV, MD, (Western) NY, IN, MN, KS, TX, GA, FL. Conclusion: not dated. Distribution OK. DCDuring TALK 01:33, 30 September 2012 (UTC)

Looking at the news archives (first 60 hits), I can find use in CA, AZ, CO, OR (Mountain and West) as well as more use in the states and adjoining ones mentioned above. DCDuring TALK 01:39, 30 September 2012 (UTC)

Hmm, that's persuasive. Do you think it should just be labelled {{context|US}}, then? I infer from the references that it's used throughout the South; I'd be surprised if it were not used in Atlanta, Charlotte or other Southern cities, so {{rural}} would be misleading. Perhaps it's better to note the one place it seems it's not used, and say {{context|US|_|except urban New England}}? - -sche (discuss) 02:16, 30 September 2012 (UTC)

It surprised me a bit. Though the use tended to be more rural, it's not really marked. Weather reporters do seem to need to enhance the interest of their content any way they can. It would certainly be understood anywhere. Looking through the news archives, I found use in virtually every US State, though New England only had 1, from CT. I also found a use in Ontario. This is the kind of thing DARE is supposed to be good at. DCDuring TALK 06:04, 30 September 2012 (UTC)