The title phrase is Latin for Dog Days, that lethargic time of summer that is usua.ly so hot and muggy one can barely stand to go outdoors. It is a time when plants stop growing and focus on simple survival in the oppressive heat, and during which old folks always said superstitious powers were at work, causing such strange things as a cut or wound not healing till Dog Days were over. Sounds like a curious or maybe even peculiar old Southern tradition, doesnt it?
Well, guess what? It aint!
The ancient Greeks had Dog Days, as did the ancient Romans, whose name for the period is set forth in todays column title. Ancient belief seemed to be that the star, Sirius, sometimes known as the Dog Star, exerted its influence on the weather especially during that period each year, bringing on miserably hot and uncomfortable conditions. They believed that the rising of Sirius with the sun during this period amplified the suns heat to the point it could drive people and animals mad.
Your compiler, it must be admitted, was in such a state of surprise after reading that some years ago that someone could have run him off the dangerous side of the Starrs Mill dam with nothing more than a wooden spoon and a guinea feather. Dog Days not Southern? A nearly life-long impression shattered.
Guess we Southerners cannot take credit for all the worlds eccentricities, as much as we might like to. But your compiler might be wiling to wager that Dog Days on the Acropolis or in the Coliseum do not feel anywhere near as oppressive as they do here.
Wikipedia tells us that Dog Days 2025 will run from July 3 until August 11, so by the time this column runs (and in fact as of the date it was written), we will be in the midst of them. So if there is a moral to or word for the wise in this story, it would be this: make sure your air conditioning system is in good order, and be especially careful with knives.
