Joice ([email protected])
Mon, 19 Oct 1998 21:53:59 -0200
I'm Brazilian, and even though I know English, there are some expressions
that are not so easy to figure out. For example, I never knew that "Indian
Summer" is an expression, but today I found out it relates to something
like good climate, good weather in late autumm. (correct me if I'm wrong!
:-) And also revival of youth feelings in old age.
I happen to love U2's Indian Summer Sky. (the U2 content in my post ;-)
Well, for those who are interested in words, there's this interesting
mailing list about (usually unusual) English words. In the last issue,
there was a question about the origin of this fabulous expression - INDIAN
SUMMER. Here's the answer. I included the address to the home page in case
you want to subscribe (no, I'm not the administrator ;-P It's a cool
mailing list if you like to know odd things.
(Ana, I know you're reading this. I didn't post this one on Ultraviolet
because I was too lazy to explain it in Portuguese, hehe! Anyway, I miss
posting on Wire (like I used to do it a lot... ;-P . You'll like this
mailing list.)
> WORLD WIDE WORDS ISSUE 116 Saturday 17 October 1998
> ==================================================================
> A weekly mailing from Michael Quinion Thornbury, Bristol, UK
> Q. A British colleague and I were commenting on the wonderful
> autumn weather here in Michigan. We agreed that it felt like an
> "Indian Summer." Further conversation revealed that he thought the
> term originated in the country (and warm weather) of India, while
> I thought it referred back to the Native Indian tribes of North
> America. Can you clarify for us, please? [Ben Bratt]
>
> A. You're correct to say it's connected with Native Americans,
> though nobody seems to know quite how. The first reference that we
> have is from a book with the title _A Snow Storm as it affects the
> American Farmer_, which was written by a French-American farmer
> named J H St John de Cre`vecoeur in about 1777. In it he said
> "Then a severe frost succeeds which prepares it to receive the
> voluminous coat of snow which is soon to follow; though it is
> often preceded by a short interval of smoke and mildness, called
> the Indian Summer" (I am indebted to David Barnhart and Alan
> Metcalf for quoting this in their book _America in So Many
> Words_). There are several explanations for where the phrase came
> from, mostly put forward in the early nineteenth century, which
> suggested the term was of sufficient antiquity by then that its
> origin had gone out of living memory. William and Mary Morris
> suggest it came about because the word "Indian" had been to be
> adopted as a term among early colonists to describe something
> false, or a poor imitation of the real thing, as in 'Indian corn'
> or 'Indian tea'. Whatever the reason, this name for a short period
> of fine weather at the end of autumn is now the standard term,
> even in Britain, where older names such as St Luke's summer, St
> Martin's summer or All-Hallown Summer are now obsolete or rare.
> * The World Wide Words home pages are at:
>
> <http://www.quinion.demon.co.uk/words/> and
> <http://www.clever.net/quinion/words/>.
Joice
"In the forest, there's a clearing
I run there towards the light
Sky... It's a blue sky..."
(...)
"The rivers run too deep, the seasons change and so do I..."
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