"Summer is two weeks of bad sledding” is how the summer season is jocularly described in some cold places, such as Buffalo (NY) and Canada. For slightly warmer regions, summer can be “four weeks of bad sledding” or “eight weeks of bad sledding.”
“We (Canada—ed.) are with only about two weeks of bad sledding a year, in July” was cited in The Globe and Mail (Toronto, ON) in 1970.
16 February 1970, The Globe and Mail (Toronto, ON), “By Dick Beddoes,” pg. 18, col. 1:
Perhaps the first law of life in Canada is that we are a winter-sport nation, burdened as we are with only about two weeks of bad sledding a year, in July.
2 March 1986, Playground Daily News (Fort Walton Beach, FL), “Looking for a new nest” by Jim MacKinnon, pg. 5A, col. 1:
Once upon a time, in the most northern regions of the continent, there lived a flock of hardy birds who thrived and survived in a harsh climate of bitter cold winters and summers that were referred to in jest as “two weeks of bad sledding.”
Google Groups: rec.gardens
Zoysia Grasses
kl...@iscsvax.uni.edu
6/4/92
(...)
It’s a warm-season grass, and in your neck of the woods, where summer is two weeks of bad sledding,
Google News Archive
31 August 1997, Sunday Star-News (Wilmington, NC), “N.C. State perspective is changing with victory” by Mike Boaz, pg. 8C, col. 1:
The boot’s gone, the sun’s shining, even in Syracuse, where summer is just two weeks of bad sledding anyway.
Twitter
Duncan Phyfe
@duncisms
@AliveinMe well our summer is defined by “2 weeks of bad sledding”
4:29 PM - 30 Sep 2009
Twitter
Matt Forbeck
@mforbeck
@jefftidball Yeah, but you’re in northern Minnesota. Summer there is three weeks of bad sledding.
2:01 PM - 1 Oct 2009
Twitter
Harold Boughton
@HaroldBoughton
@PatMcAfeeShow @WTHRcom In Buffalo, we used to describe Summer as two weeks of bad sledding! But, I do love Buffalo!
6:04 AM - 22 Apr 2015
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
This site is edited by Barry Popik.