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The Language of Summer

Posted on June 30, 2010June 30, 2010 by Staff

Listen, it’s summer. We’ve all melted a bit. The dog pants more. The pace is a summer pace and the language is a summer language.

Keep an open ear and you’ll notice more stories than usual. With travel more likely to include some adventure, people are eager to share itineraries and, later, recollections.

The words we use and how we string them together has modulated in accordance with the season as well.

“Firefly” and “firecracker” enter the mix. Usage of “pool” is more often a reference to the place in which one takes a “dip” rather than billiards or betting.

We talk more of waves too – catching them and the relentlessness of the heat. As I’ve mentioned before, my summertalk quirk is not to volunteer that it sure is hot until early August. To do so, I feel, is to surrender far too early. That said, of late it has indeed been quite warm.

I like the way the herd shifts in the summer – gathering in clumps of assorted friends and family all over the map, some heading to the hills to escape the heat, some soaking it up on the hot sands and some just staying put and contentedly so. As noted in the essay below, in various spots about town temporary societies spring up around swimming holes both natural and chlorinated.

This month kicks off with at least hope of cooler weather, which will be welcome next Sunday when citizens of Carrboro take to Weaver Street for the annual very-short Fourth of July parade. What follows the community stroll to Town Hall is a gathering about as hometown as it gets. There’s a special pullout guide to the day’s festivities in this issue of MILL. Enjoy yourselves.

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