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The phrase does not appear anywhere in Shaw's works. Sentences like "the rain in Spain," with repetitions of sounds for practice, are called "loaded sentences." They had been in use for teaching elocution for decades before Shaw wrote Pygmalion; though that does not mean that he didn't originate the phrase. To my knowledge, no one has yet documented the origin of "the rain in Spain," though one person has claimed it as her husband's invention.

Shaw did indeed write the phrase - it appears in the 1938 movie version starring Wendy Hiller and Leslie Howard, though not in his original stage play. Shaw won an Oscar for writing the screenplay for this filmed version. The film version was published by Penguin Books in 1941 and reprinted in from 1946 to 1965. Shaw also came up with the phrase "In Hampshire, Hereford and Hertford hurricanes hardly ever happen" although it is slightly changed to "In Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire..." in the musical version, My Fair Lady. Grand old man!

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15y ago

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