language & earthy metaphor
"the beautiful phenomenon of the meteor, which the German
language most unpoetically calls
Sternschnuppe
(the smouldering wick of a star).
Certain South American
Indians call the shooting star the “urine of the stars.”
According to the principle of the least resistance, expressions
are taken from the nearest source available.
e.g.,the transference of the metonymic expression
of urination as Schiffens, “to rain"