One of the Japanese members of the Foreign Correspondents Club asked me to explain "raincheck" to him today. He sometimes pops into my office while I'm working and asks me to help him understand idiomatic English. I'm glad that I usually know the meaning and also the origin of the phrases he asks about.
A raincheck is a promise to deliver a service after a postponement. You might get a raincheck if the supermarket runs out of the toilet paper that's on sale. They give you a voucher that allows you to buy the toilet paper at the reduced price when it's in stock again. Or you might say "Can I take a raincheck?" if someone invites you out to dinner on a night that you are busy. This means that you hope they will invite you again on another night.
The original raincheck was a special ticket issued when a baseball game was cancelled due to bad weather. The raincheck allowed you to come to another game instead. Rainchecks have been around since 1884.
Assisting friends and colleagues with language is par for the course* around here. Tod explained "that old chestnut" to Ota-san today and even UltraBob recently needed some help translating muchi to ame (literally whip and candy) into "carrot and stick."
* yet another idiom--this time relating to golf.
Ah, I always wondered what "raincheck" means, since I heard the so titled song by Van Morrison. I was too lazy to look it up in the dictionary. Nice to learn it that unexpectedly. =)
Huh. That's interesting. I always thought the origin must have come from coats. You know, like coat check? Checking the raincoat or some such. Makes sense to me now.