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Archiver > PAFAYETT > 2002-11 > 1036253465


From: "Whetsel" <>
Subject: [PAFAY] Indian Summer
Date: Sat, 2 Nov 2002 11:11:05 -0500
References: <004101c28285$14dbb700$1f239a18@zoominternet.net>


Couple other possibilities:

from Straightdope.com

"Indian" was once used by the white man as an all-purpose adjective
signifying "bogus" or "false," owing to the supposedly low morals of the red
man. Thus you had "Indian summer," false summer late in the year; "Indian
corn" and "Indian tea," cheap substitutes for products the original
colonists had known back in England; and "Indian giver," someone who gives
you something and then takes it back.

But of course Europeans were the real Indian givers, repeatedly promising
the Indians reservations by treaty and then stealing them back once valuable
farmland or minerals were found. The term has thus inadvertently become an
acid commentary on the character of its inventors. I think it's poetic.

********************
from ukscience.com

It is thought that the phrase was coined by european settlers on the
Atlantic coast of North America. Paul Marriott, in his 'Red Sky at Night,
Shepherd's Delight', says..." strictly an Indian Summer is a lengthy dry
sunny spell from late September into November. The name probably derived
from the N. American Indians who relied on a similar fine spell in late
autumn for harvesting. " Philip Eden, in his 'Weatherwise' (see entry 5A.5
of this FAQ) also ascribes this reasoning to the term. However, I have been
advised of a belief in the USA that the phrase may be a rather pejorative
one coined by the early settlers, which implies that a late ( autumnal /
'Fall' ) spell of warm, sunny weather is not to be relied upon: they found
the native inhabitants (in their view) were not to be trusted in like
fashion.




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