Over the weekend, a friend and I were talking when he suddenly said, “Aren’t we having ourselves a wonderful Indian summer?”
“Now where do you think that term actually came from?” I asked him with interest.
“How would I know that?” came the reply.
“I mean, do you think there was once a bunch of Indians sitting around a campfire really enjoying some great weather late in the year and they just decided to name it after them?”
“Why do you do that, Daryl?”
“Do what?”
“Ask really stupid questions?”
“Actually,” I said in my defense, “I’m usually fairly pleased with the questions I ask – it’s the answers I come up with that are sometimes pretty stupid.”
Anyway, later that evening, still wondering how the term “Indian summer” originated, I turned on my trusty computer and went in search of an answer, which turned out to be the following:
An Indian summer is a meteorological phenomenon that occurs in autumn in the Northern Hemisphere that is characterized by a period of sunny, warm weather, after the leaves have turned following an onset of frost, but before the first snowfall. The expression has been used for more than two centuries and most likely originated from raids on European colonies by Indian war parties; these raids usually ended in autumn, hence the extension to summer-like weather in the fall as an Indian summer. It may also be so named because this was the traditional period during which early North American Indians harvested their crops of squash and corn.
So, not only do I now know what people are actually referring to when they use the term “Indian summer”, but while doing my research, I also came across the meaning of some other really interesting old sayings, and here are just a few examples:
Shindig: The term comes from the fact that many rookie square dancers used to end up swinging their feet wildly, often digging them into the shins of their partners or other dancers.
Wrong side of the bed: In the ancient world, the left-side of the body or anything “left” was considered sinister, mysterious, dangerous or even evil. So, innkeepers pushed the left side of the bed against the wall so that a guest had to get up on the right side of the bed.
Frog in your throat: Medieval physicians believed that the secretions of a frog could cure a cough if they were coated on the throat of the patient. The frog was placed in the mouth of the sufferer and kept there until the physician decided that the treatment was complete.
The clink: That comes from the name of a very harsh prison that was once located on Clink Street in the Southwark area of London.
Son of a gun: After sailors had crossed the Atlantic to the West Indies, they would often take the native women on board their ship and have their way with them in-between the cannons. Some of the women the sailors left behind would end up having baby boys, who were then called the son of a gun.
Cut through the red tape: Long ago solicitors kept their client’s papers in a file folder tied with a red ribbon to prevent the papers from falling out. Of course, when they wanted to get their papers, they would have to cut through the red tape.
Saved by the bell: When our ancestors realized they were burying a great number of people before they were completely dead, they came up with a solution. They tied a string onto the “dead” person’s hand, buried them, and tied the other end of the string to a bell and then tied that to a nearby tree branch. If the person revived enough to ring the bell, their survivors would rush out and dig them up. Hence, they were saved by the bell. This is also thought to be the story behind the term, “dead ringer”.
Barking up the wrong tree: Settlers often hunted raccoons, possums and squirrels. Most hunting dogs would chase them up a tree and then bark until their masters came and shot the animals. Sometimes, however, the animal managed to sneak across to another tree without the dogs noticing, and their masters arrived only to find their dogs barking up the wrong tree.
Blacklisted: The term goes back to British colleges where the deans had black leather-bound books with the names of boys who had disciplinary issues and misdeeds.
Mind your own beeswax: This came from the days when smallpox was a regular disfigurement. Fine ladies would fill in the pocks with beeswax. However, when the weather was very warm the wax might melt. But it was not the thing to do for one lady to tell another that her makeup needed attention. Hence the sharp rebuke to “mind your own beeswax!”
Go to pot: Any farm animal that had outlived its usefulness, such as a hen who no longer laid eggs, would literally go to pot. It was cooked and eaten.
Stool pigeon: Pigeons were once a good source of meat. In order to get one, many hunters took a tame pigeon and tied it to a stool in order to attract wild pigeons. Because the pigeon that was tied to the stool was used to trap other birds, the term “stool pigeons” soon was used to represent anyone who betrays a friend.
Bikini: Named after Bikini Island in the Marshall Islands where atomic bombs were once tested, the idea being that atomic explosions and women wearing very skimpy bathing suits created much the same reaction in men.
Hunky-dory: Hunchi-dori was a major street in Yokohama that was frequented by American soldiers on leave during WWI. To be on that street meant you were enjoying “leisure activities” and having a good time.
And finally, Rule of thumb: It turns out that an old English law declared that a man could not beat his wife with a stick any larger than the diameter of his thumb.