Dull September, Cold October

The BBC News says that last month was the dullest September since 1985. It turns out that they’re talking about the weather, apparently, because the article is all about how 2008 is one of the warmer years on record (which doesn’t inspire any hope in us, somehow). BUT: to call September “dull” … is to say, what, exactly?

We know, we’re always going on about the different uses of language over here, but this … this just didn’t even make sense, since the primary American definition of the word “dull” includes both boring and “not shiny.” Eh? As always when seeking guidance through the myriad linguistic challenges of the UK, we deferred to the Oxford English Dictionary, and arrived at definitions 5 and 7b:

5. Causing depression or ennui; tedious, uninteresting, uneventful; the reverse of exhilarating or enlivening.
7.b. Of the weather: Not clear or bright; cheerless, gloomy, overcast. (Here there is app. some mixture of sense 5.)

So, folks. We’ve had gloomy, depressing weather this past month. And now, it’s absolutely nippy out.

Happy Sunday!

– D & T

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