It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity
July 29, 2009
A show of hands from everyone who is thoroughly roasted this week? Thanks, you can all put your hands back in the buckets of ice now.
In honor of my broken air conditioner, today’s post will give a bit of background on a commonly used phrase: “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.”
The phrase actually has little to do with heat. Its common use means, “I’m not bothered by the obvious problem, but by a related one.” So in my case I might say, “It’s not the heat, it’s the broken air conditioner.”
Since weather is always an easy topic of conversation, the phrase has been used often throughout history — enough to be included in my good ole Dictionary of Cliches. But one of the earliest public uses of the phrase was in Langdon Mitchell’s 1906 play The New York Idea, which has little to do with weather and more to do with marriage and divorce. Go figure.
While a cliche can be fun here and there, it’s important to try and spot them when they come up repeatedly in your writing. The biggest reason for this is that using a cliche means you’re using someone else’s words — it’s likely that you could come up with a more unique, or even more clever, way to get your point across.
The more I think about this the more I realize that cliches are nearly impossible to avoid. And sometimes they’re pretty fun. After all, I am the owner of an entire dictionary of them. But too many of them can turn a piece to fluff. To give you an idea, here’s a link to a few written pieces that are nearly entirely composed of cliches. They’re good for a chuckle, but if you really want to make a point or communicate a clear message, they’re probably not the way to go.
What I would really love to do someday is coin a phrase (sorry! cliche!) that is so commonly used that it becomes a cliche after I die. How’s that for a dying wish?
While we’re at it, what are your favorite/love-to-hate cliches? Or your favorite ways to describe a crazy-hot day such as this one?
Sorry to nitpick the the single tree ignoring the forest.
But I wanted to point out in case anyone is wondering, as you know to cool off, we sweat. It’s not the sweat on the skin that cools us, but as a byproduct of the sweat evaporating off our skin.
The dry the air, the easier it is for the evaporation to happen. In high humidty the air is highly saturated with moisture, slowing down the evaporation process.
On Charity. A woman after mine own heart! Ha.
idiomatic expressions have traditionally been lost on me. In fact, I was once given a book full of Idioms (as a college grad!), but still, many of them make no sense at all …which leads to misuse and misunderstanding. I once (long ago) mistook “you’re like a broken record” to mean I was “breaking the record” for saying something over and over again–like an Olympian! I thought that was pretty awesome!
In Spanish, they tend to be a little more meaningful to me. Amores de lejos estan pendejos was the first one I learned, and it still makes me chuckle (a “bad word” and it rhymes!–for the record, costaricenses don’t see the “p” word as that bad…This was before the 30-rock’s “long distance is the wrong distance sistah!”). Esos dichos son divertidos, reflejan la lengua, y me ayunda aprender la cultura de varios paises y regiones.
And one last pet-peeve: NOWADAYS. One word.
I don’t have anything particularly intellectual to add, but I would like to mention that if I ever hear a person say “spring has sprung!” they are likely to get a punch in the face from yours truly.
Regarding the hot weather, my friend Heather said today that the heat is a ‘wanky guitar solo’, meaning long, drawn-out, and painful. I would like to make this the new cliche.
Amber! You SO have me laughing! This week’s heat IS a ‘wanky guitar solo.’ That has to be the new cliche. Everyone, spread the word!
Jeff, thanks for the clarification on why The Humidity really is the bigger problem.
Lindsay, mi corazon, I just loved all that you had to say. I love thinking of a broken record being someone who breaks Olympic records. And “long distance is the wrong distance” makes me laugh every time. I wonder how many Tina Fey-isms will become cliches someday?