Simon先生の英語ブログで学ぶ使える英語表現ーIt’s Not the Heat, It’s the Humidity「暑さじゃなくて湿度だよ」

※Simon先生のシリーズ前回の記事「Simon先生の英語ブログで学ぶ使える英語表現ーGreener Pastures「緑豊かな牧草地」」を見逃した方はこちらからどうぞ！

今回のブログは、先生がこの時期に感じるエピソード、It’s Not the Heat, It’s the Humidity「暑さじゃなくて湿度だよ」をお届けします。

英語ブログを読もう！It’s Not the Heat, It’s the Humidity「暑さじゃなくて湿度だよ」

Hello, this is Simon,

Once again, we had the rainy season. It is a time of year that I have mixed feelings about.

On the positive side, my garden loves it, because it is receiving a near constant stream of vital water. It saves me time too, as I don’t have to spend mornings and evenings watering the garden. With the current water rates being so high, it is appreciated from budgetary point of view as well. My lawn in particular loves it, because I’ve been skimping on watering the grass in recent years. The lawn really seems to lush up in the rainy season.

I also find it can be a pleasant reprieve from the early summer heat. The rain really does seem to cool things down sometimes. When I walk around outside, each rain drop on my skin feels like it’s taking me to a more comfortable place.

However, on the negative side, there are those very humid days, the really sticky ones. I notice it as soon as I wake up and my skin is all clammy. Fortunately, the air conditioner offers some reprieve, but that is short lived, because eventually I have to go to work. I open the door and walk outside, and it’s like a Turkish bathhouse. As I walk to work, I don’t feel like I’m walking at all. It’s like I’m swimming. I’m constantly wet. I know I am sweating buckets, but it doesn’t seem to be cooling me down.

There is not a dry bone on my body, and this lasts the entire day, until I’m back at home showered and dried, late in the evening. I actually prefer a very hot summer day to a semi hot steamy day.
As they say, “It’s not the heat. It’s the humidity…“

ーそれでは、本文の中からピックアップした英語表現を見てみましょう！

“lush up”

This isn’t such a commonly used term, but “lush” is an adjective that describes an area of healthy green vegetation

(e.g. The grass in England is very lush, due to the rainfall.)

It is possible to use it as a verb in a phrase like “lush up” to mean for an area to become more lush.

“the really sticky ones”

The adjective “sticky” is another word for “humid” or “muggy”. It describes “weather or conditions that feel damp, moist, and often uncomfortable due to high humidity levels”

(e.g. I’m not a fan of this sticky weather./I feel really sticky in this humidity.)

“my skin is all clammy”

The adjective “clammy”, when used to describe skin, means “damp and sticky“

(e.g. I could tell he was nervous when I shook his hand, and noticed how clammy it was.)

“it’s like a Turkish bathhouse”

This is a colorful variation of saying the humidity is “like a sauna”. It describes a very hot and steamy atmosphere.

For reference, I checked out some images of Turkish bathhouses, and they look amazing.

“I feel like I’m swimming”

This is another way of saying it is very humid. When the air is very thick with moisture, to the point where we can feel our hands passing through it as we walk, we often liken the situation to swimming

(e.g. During the heatwave, even a short walk felt like swimming through a hot, sticky sea of air.)

“I’m sweating buckets”

This means that we are sweating large amounts of water

(e.g. After running for an hour in the hot sun, she was sweating buckets.)

It can also be used to describe a state of extreme anxiousness or nervousness

(e.g. He was so nervous during the interview that he started sweating buckets.)

“It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.”

This is a commonly used expression. The meaning is that more than the heat, it is the humidity that is making us feel so uncomfortable. The expression is generally used as a standalone sentence.

Stay cool and have a great summer vacation!

See you next month.

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Simon

Hello! My name is Simon.

I am from New Zealand, and have been living and teaching English in Japan since 1999.

My hobbies include movies, playing the guitar, gardening and hiking.