This is a phrase most of us have heard from childhood on. It refers to warm weather after the first killing frost of the approaching winter. Since we don't have extreme weather in So. Calif. we pretty much have to depend on an El Nino or two to represent Indian Summer.
In view of the fairly recent screams of protest against sports teams using anything "Indian" in their logos, I wondered if this prejudice extended to weather.
No, it does not. Indian Summer by any other name is still the same thing. But Europe and Asia have all been there long before upstart America appeared, they use a different name, not having any Indians of their own.
Italy, Spain and Portugal all named it for a local saint. In Germany and Austria it is called "Old Wives Summer" for reasons quite unclear to me. Slavic countries refer to it as "Ladies Summer."
But, America's "Indian Summer" became so popular that cargo ships using the Indian Ocean for transportation of goods, all had I.S. applied to the height that would be the amount of cargo that could be carried. So, hah! Europe and Asia.
My fellow locals this heat surge currently tormenting us is just lingering "hot." Console yourselves with an ice-clanking glass of tea - it's just another heat spell with no fancy name to it at all. (sigh.)
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