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Reader question: Please explain “rainy days” in this headline: “Cash help needed for rainy days.” My comments: This means that some people keep running out of cash and therefore need some sort of help, either from banks, employers, governments, family members or relatives. In other words, they have to borrow cash (to pay for everyday expenses, such as buying groceries). Anyways, “rainy days” is the metaphor to remember here. They refer to, well, rainy days or inopportune bad weather. And let me explain. Presumably this expression is pretty old, ancient in fact, originating from the good old days when we humans were hunter-gatherers. That is, hunters for meat and gatherers for grains and vegetables. And when we were hunter-gatherers, we scavenge for food and drink. In other words, life was not settled. Well, settled (in caves and log cabins) perhaps but not as well settled as we are today, with food and drink in the fridge that will last the family a few days up to a week. Back in those days, people led a day to day existence, i.e. they eat their fill when they get food without knowing whether they’ll have the same kind of food (or luck to have any food) tomorrow. It is from these circumstances that some wise people began to develop the habit of storing food. Not a lot – unlike today’s silly greedy capitalists who keep mountains of un-spendable wealth just to prove they can – just a little to last them a day or two. | 
