On a dog roll, here is some more canine-related stuff for you. ( Try as I may, I could not conjure up a “doggy-style” reference in my intro here, but hold the thought and I may incorporate it somewhere later on.)
We are approaching the end of the dog days of summer, but do you know why it is called that? Has to do with the star Sirius being at its brightest at this time of year. The old timers correctly noted that when Sirius got bright up there, it got hot and nasty down here.
So why not call it “Sirius days” then? Sirius is part of what is called the Canis Major constellation which is Latin for Greater Dog. (Canis as in canine, makes sense right?)
If like me you don’t see it from the above chart, the following shows it better. Sirius is at the base of the dog’s neck. Seems a little bit of reach, but remember that back in those days in the absence of T-V, internet, Facebook etc. those dudes didn’t have a lot to do other than look up at the stars and make shit up.
More trivia for you – Big Mama Thornton’s term Hound Dog was really an euphemism/substitute for the word motherf’er (click here.) Try singing it that way and you’ll see that it does sound better with her more “earthy” substitution.