Is the phrase "raising cain" or is it "raising cane" when someone is
causing trouble?

Hello oggiebear,

Here are three reputable sources that give "Cain" as the correct spelling:

"raise Cain" (The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition, 2002)
Bartleby.com
http://www.bartleby.com/59/4/raisecain.html

"raise" ["raise Cain or raise hell" near bottom of page]
(Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary)
Merriam-Webster Online
http://www2.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwdictsn?book=Dictionary&va=raise

"Cain"
MSN Encarta
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861594027/Cain.html

- justaskscott


Search strategy --

Searched on Google for:

"raising cain" dictionary
"raise cain" dictionary

[If you substitute "cane" for "cain" in these searches, you won't find
similarly reputable results.]

The phrase refers to the biblical "Cain". Here is one web page's
explanation for the origin:

http://www.st-ignatius-loyola.com/trivia/trivia10.html

RAISING CAIN 
Meaning: Causing trouble.

Background: The eighteenth century was an age in which children were
supposed to be seen and not heard. Parents who raised rowdy,
undisciplined children were said to be raising Cains: children who
would grow up to be like the biblical Cain (who murdered his brother
Abel and then denied responsibility when questioned by God). Over
time, "raising cain" came to refer to the act of unruliness, not the
child-rearing itself.

Also see:
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Cain

A cautionary note. Etymologies can be very unreliable, especially when
pulled off the Internet. Many "folk etymologies" exist that are not
supported by documentary evidence. I have no idea whether there is any
source documentation to support the claim made in the citation I gave
in my first comment. Still, I am quite certain the phrase is a
biblical reference and thus spelled "Cain".

I agree 100% with kottekoe...  I went to Boarding School, church EVERY
DAY, it's raising CAIN.  Plus, here's the Smackdown Results:

What's a SMACKDOWN?
http://www.onfocus.com/googlesmack/down.asp
Don't use quotation marks, the API adds them to all entries that are
more than one word.

SMACKDOWN:
"Raising Cain" vs "Raising Cane"

The Results

And the undisputed champion is...

   1. Raising Cain (9,950)
   2. Raising Cane (3,040)

Another Challenge?

The Details

This queries Google via its API and receives the estimated total
results for each word or phrase. The smackdown adds quotes to your
word or phrase when searching. So if you add quotation marks here,
Google will ignore the quotes altogether.

~~Cynthia

Just ask Abel