The idioms of summer make for good coffee chat conversation

A group of friends and I sat around a breakfast table chatting over too much coffee and one said something about someone being the spitting image of someone else. And then, as conversations go, the question was asked. “What does that really mean?” Phones came out, and really, what would we do without the internet

If you’ve ever tried to learn another language, you know idioms are like learning another language within a language. And even if English is your first language, idioms are still often confusing and strange. But not as strange as their origins.

For example, let’s say it is a very warm day and someone says, “It’s so hot, I’m sweating like a pig!” We’ve all heard that dozens of times, but did you know pigs don’t really sweat? That saying comes from the days of industrial steel production.

When iron was smelted and poured into sand to cool, the pieces looked like a sow and piglets. There, it cooled, much like the true purpose of sweating for us humans. Hence, we sweat like pigs.

Leave it to the Romans to define the dog days of summer

It’s often quite warm during the “dog days of summer.” And personally, having two dogs who take advantage to get muddy and dirty every day, no matter the season, one would think every day would be a dog day. But this saying comes from ancient Rome, when Sirius, the Dog Star, appeared in the sky, around July. So while we think of the dogs days as just being warm, we can blame this confusing saying on the Romans.

For many, the summer season means to vacation. Depending on your budget, you might need to travel “on a shoestring,” meaning to have limited funds or resources.

While the origin of this idiom has been debated with many possibilities, my one popular idea is that immigrants to New York were known to sell shoelaces on the street. They lived very poorly, hence the shoestring budget. Other ideas suggest that long ago, shoelaces were very weak and would break easily. Kind of like the bank when you take your family to the beach and everyone wants daily ice cream and souvenir T-shirts.

But all in all, summer seems to be a time to enjoy the dog days, even if you’re sweating like a pig on a shoestring budget. Not every day is perfect, though, so just remember to “make hay while the sun shines” and take the time to have lengthy breakfasts with friends and have the extra cup of coffee.

And then maybe someone can look up why in the world we call it a spitting image.

Reach Karrie McAllister at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Enjoy dog days, sweat like a pig, live on shoestring and just be happy