Etymology in Action

It's hot out there, people. Without getting into a fight about whether our climate is changing at unprecedented scale because of human activity (it is) or some other reason, it seems obvious that the general global pattern is trending towards substantially increased temperatures. By way of illustration, here's a chart from NASA that illustrates changes in the global mean temperature from 1880 to 2020.

As the climate changes, humans are finding ways to adapt. While I was in Colorado last week, my friends who've been in Boulder for nearly 20 years told me that air conditioners weren't in wide use when they first moved to the air. They're nearly ubiquitous now. Anecdote isn't data, but we've got some of that, too. According to a 2017 article in Denverite, 40% of homes in the American West had air conditioning. By 2017, that number had risen to 75%, and it's almost certainly continued to rise over the past five years. (The impact to the power grid and electrical availability is the subject of a different post, altogether.)

Animals have been forced to adapt, as well, but they can't really afford air conditioning. Instead, they take a behavioral approach, as this squirrel demonstrates:

That, my friends, is called 'splooting'. Merriam-Webster doesn't acknowledge that term as an actual word, but it's obvious that it describes what that little dude is doing. Linguists suggest that it's a colloquial combination of splat, splay, and scoot. That seems logical.

What's also logical, and practical, is that it works. So if you're looking for me on a scorching day, please assume that I'll be here: