Sir, – Gary O’Sullivan (Letters, September 11th) in his quip that our Indian summer be renamed a Bharatian summer, should India adopt the proposed name of Bharat, unfortunately commits a similar error to that of Christopher Columbas and has confused his continents.
Indian summers are named after a spell of warm, dry, late autumn weather that allowed Native Americans extend their hunting and harvesting season. So, should he wish to apply a new term to the pleasant autumn conditions, he can perhaps opt for a Native American summer, an Indigenous American summer, or any of several subsets of terms within these groupings rather than an erroneous reference to an Asian country.
The change in weather conditions as I write suggest, however, that this may be a discussion for another year. – Yours, etc,
PAT MULLEN,
Kilkerley,
Co Louth.