What is 'silly season' and how did it get its name?

With MPs sacking off work for their summer recess, 'silly season' is upon us.

The phrase refers to a period in the news cycle when not much politics is happening, leaving journalists with little choice but to report on more frivolous subjects to fill the news pages.

The term was first attested in 1861, and listed in the second (1894) edition of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable according to Wikipedia.

The 15th edition of Brewer's defined the silly season as "the part of the year when Parliament and the Law Courts are not sitting (about August and September)".

Politicians have even referenced it. Speaking in the commons during a debate in September 2015 discussing the business of the house, Labour MP Angela Eagle mentioned the term to bash the Tories.

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

She said: "Despite my party’s sterling attempt to banish silly season entirely this summer, it seems that it still exists on the Conservative benches."

So what are some examples of 'silly season' stories? Well when everyone got obsessed with the fate of an alpaca in Summer 2021, that was arguably very silly. Sorry, Geronimo

And who can forget when, on the 4th August 2009, The Times front page carried the headline, “Benson, Britain’s Best Loved Carp, 1984-2009”, eulogising the death of a fish.

These stories don't just happen in the UK, mind.

Other countries have comparable periods, for example the Sommerloch ("summer [news]hole") in Germany.

France has la morte-saison ("the dead season" or "the dull season") or la saison des marronniers ("the conker tree season"), and Sweden has nyhetstorka ("news drought").

Norway definitely wins though:

And people sometimes use the term to snipe about journalists reporting on issues they don't deem to be newsworthy.

Aside from that, the phrase is also used to describe periods in sports between major tournaments including in golf and F1.

So are you ready to get silly? We hope so - you have literally no choice.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.