Albeit a little late, winter has now arrived and, with it, the cold temperatures – especially if you are forced to leave the house and spend many hours on the street.
The Italian language is full of expressions whose purpose is precisely to describe the freezing cold and the difficulties one has in enduring such low temperatures for long periods. The most famous and used is certainly that of the “cold dog”, but do you know why it is called that?
The origin of the expression “cold as hell”
“It’s freezing cold!” or “How cold as hell!”: we are sure that you have already used this expression at least once in these weeks of cold temperatures.
But do you know where this linguistic expression comes from? Why are low temperatures associated with this animal that has been part of our domestic life for centuries?
The explanation, as often happens with idiomatic expressions, must be sought back in the past – and unfortunately it is not something pleasant.
As we have said, the dog has been considered “human’s best friend” since time immemorial. Today it lives in our homes, sheltered from the cold and bad weather, but it hasn’t always been like this.
In past centuries the dog was kept chained outside the house, to keep guard or to prevent it from bringing fleas, ticks and any diseases inside.
During the winter, therefore, the poor dog was forced to survive the freezing temperatures of the night, exposed to the elements because he was not considered worthy of entering the house.
From this custom was born the unfortunate expression of “dog cold”: a cold so intense as to be unbearable for everyone – except for the dogs, who were chained outside the house.
Spending a night in the “cold ass”
Anyone who thinks that the dog can survive the bad weather of a winter night without consequences would do better to think again: even if equipped with fur, dogs still suffer from low temperatures (as well as high ones) and suffer the consequences of prolonged exposure to the cold.
To demonstrate how dangerous it can be to leave your dog out in the elements for a long time, the American veterinarian Ernie Ward conducted and recorded an experiment, spending a winter night outside the house, in a dog kennel.
The doctor equipped himself with thermal suits, hat and gloves to reproduce the presence of fur, and took a thermometer and an alarm clock with him into the kennel.
At the beginning of the experiment, the thermometer read -4°C but, within a few hours, it dropped to -7°C. Before long, the doctor began to lose sensation first in his hands and feet and then in his legs and arms, while his body temperature went from the normal 37°C to 33°C.
The conclusion of the experiment is very clear: if it is too cold for us humans, it is also cold for our four-legged friends. There are dog breeds predisposed to resist extreme temperatures, but the majority of dogs that live in our homes cannot tolerate temperatures that are too low.
Here you can see the experiment report:
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