Dog days, indeed…

Since I was a kid, I’ve heard the expression “the dog days of August.” Sometimes, it was “the dog days of summer” or simply “the dog days.”

I never really gave it much thought. It was just another one of those folksy Southern expressions, perhaps the antithesis of being “colder than a well-digger’s butt” or something. It’s not up there with “slower than molasses” or “happy as a junebug” but it’s pretty close.

Once I decided to give it some thought, I reasoned out that it must be referring to the hottest part of the summer where it was, like, so hot all the dogs are panting or something. I mean, it makes sense, as you’ve all seen dogs just laying around in the summer time too hot to do anything else.

Well, it turns out that’s not quite it… although I was sort of on the right track… sort of.

You see, it’s actually a very specific time. The “dog days” are from July 22nd to August 22nd, or at least they are this year. They fluctuate a day or two here and there and they are based not on any dogs laying around here on earth. They refer to a dog-based constellation in the sky — Canis Major — and its brightest star, Sirius. It is most prominent in the sky from late July to late August and for at least a couple of thousand years, the period, which coincides with not only the hottest part of the summer in the Northern Hemisphere but also hurricane season and the Indian monsoon season. For that reason, the “dog days” of summer have long been held as a time of great unrest and bad omens.

Sounds about right for the Summer of 2020, really.