Today's Wannaskan rant is all about being short. Thank you for reading this short blog.
I am thinking about "short" because February just passed by. At our house, February shows up pretty much every year, and every year it seems to go by in the blink of an eye. February is 28 days long. Well, that is the way it normally is. Every four years the calendar feels sorry for February being so short and they add in another day. They could add in a couple days and take it away from those long months (like January and August), but no, they don't.
So why is February so short? Like all things wrong in today's society, the blame falls on the Romans (that is a joke, just in case you got offended due to your Elizbeth Warren-like Roman heritage). The short month was due to a Roman king named Numa Pompilius.
Numa lived from 753-673 B.C. He created the Roman calendar, which of course back then had ten months. That is where December got its' name...the tenth month. Those of us who know the metric system know that "dec" stands for ten. That is where the dectopus (the mythical ten tentacled sea creature) got its' name.
The Romans were an agricultural people and the main purpose of the calendar was to keep track of planting and harvesting schedules. There were 355 days in their calendar consisting of 12 lunar cycles. They added in leap days to keep the calendar lined up with the seasons. Numa decided to add two months to the end of the year in order to keep the calendar lined up with the lunar cycles and the four seasons. Those two end months were called January and February.
The Romans believed that even numbers were unlucky. King Numa declared that seven of the months would be 29 days long and four would be 31 days long. Some quick math shows that this doesn't add up to their desired 355 days. 203 days plus 124 days equals 327 days. That meant that their last month...February...needed to be 355-327 days...which equals 28 days.
These are all things that I learned as I researched this blog, but one question remains...Why did they leave February with only 28 days when they increased the rest of those months to 30? Somehow they ended up with 4 thirty day months, 7 thirty-one day months, and poor little February with 28 plus one every four years. Oh yeah, and another question. How did January and February make it to the front of the calendar? That will have to be part of a future dissertation. This post is supposed to be about being short, and it is already getting long.
Interestingly enough, February is one of the longest month names. Only September beats it for length of name while two others tie it. I believe you are counting out month names on your fingers right now. Let me help you out...you can skip May. February is one of the hardest months to spell, with that silent R that is sort of silent. In fact, to learn to spell February most teachers used to make you say the silent R until you had it figured out. Today teachers just tell students to spell it Feb. and avoid that whole mess! Got to keep those test scores up! Unfortunately they make poor little February feel even shorter when they call it Feb.!
So, I guess I had better just get to the point. Sometimes we all feel a little bit short. It could be short in stature, intellect, finances, romances...whatever the area...if you are feeling a little bit short I want to encourage you. The calendar was all messed up...we would be celebrating Christmas in July...if it wasn't for one little short month called February. So even when things come up short for you, remember that short things make everything work out just right!
I am thinking about "short" because February just passed by. At our house, February shows up pretty much every year, and every year it seems to go by in the blink of an eye. February is 28 days long. Well, that is the way it normally is. Every four years the calendar feels sorry for February being so short and they add in another day. They could add in a couple days and take it away from those long months (like January and August), but no, they don't.
So why is February so short? Like all things wrong in today's society, the blame falls on the Romans (that is a joke, just in case you got offended due to your Elizbeth Warren-like Roman heritage). The short month was due to a Roman king named Numa Pompilius.
Numa lived from 753-673 B.C. He created the Roman calendar, which of course back then had ten months. That is where December got its' name...the tenth month. Those of us who know the metric system know that "dec" stands for ten. That is where the dectopus (the mythical ten tentacled sea creature) got its' name.
The Romans were an agricultural people and the main purpose of the calendar was to keep track of planting and harvesting schedules. There were 355 days in their calendar consisting of 12 lunar cycles. They added in leap days to keep the calendar lined up with the seasons. Numa decided to add two months to the end of the year in order to keep the calendar lined up with the lunar cycles and the four seasons. Those two end months were called January and February.
The Romans believed that even numbers were unlucky. King Numa declared that seven of the months would be 29 days long and four would be 31 days long. Some quick math shows that this doesn't add up to their desired 355 days. 203 days plus 124 days equals 327 days. That meant that their last month...February...needed to be 355-327 days...which equals 28 days.
These are all things that I learned as I researched this blog, but one question remains...Why did they leave February with only 28 days when they increased the rest of those months to 30? Somehow they ended up with 4 thirty day months, 7 thirty-one day months, and poor little February with 28 plus one every four years. Oh yeah, and another question. How did January and February make it to the front of the calendar? That will have to be part of a future dissertation. This post is supposed to be about being short, and it is already getting long.
Interestingly enough, February is one of the longest month names. Only September beats it for length of name while two others tie it. I believe you are counting out month names on your fingers right now. Let me help you out...you can skip May. February is one of the hardest months to spell, with that silent R that is sort of silent. In fact, to learn to spell February most teachers used to make you say the silent R until you had it figured out. Today teachers just tell students to spell it Feb. and avoid that whole mess! Got to keep those test scores up! Unfortunately they make poor little February feel even shorter when they call it Feb.!
So, I guess I had better just get to the point. Sometimes we all feel a little bit short. It could be short in stature, intellect, finances, romances...whatever the area...if you are feeling a little bit short I want to encourage you. The calendar was all messed up...we would be celebrating Christmas in July...if it wasn't for one little short month called February. So even when things come up short for you, remember that short things make everything work out just right!
Just great. Here, all my life, I thought I had been saying February correctly and now you tell me, I have not. Of course, I believe you, you have a teaching degree, so obviously someone has deemed you an authority on annunciation of monthly names, so who am I to argue?
ReplyDeleteIt's just that now I'm retired, I can't afford to take annunciation classes--especially for just one word. That would be a time-waster, my wife would think. To know, now, she married me despite my gross speech impediment, insures her ascent into heaven (when it's her time) as an act of grace and kindness shown a lesser word-pronouncer who went about his whole life ignorantly mispronouncing F-E-B-R-U-A-R-Y.
What an embarrassment! No wonder my friends cringe when I stumble over it, their shoulders hunched up around their ears as if in sudden pain, then look at me in pity and smile. "Ah lad, but you have a good heart, despite. Sit yerself down, take the load off yer weariness. Donut hold onto it a fly's breath longer. Would you fancy a pint?'
I will so sadly rue this day, alas.
I think that you can take those annunciation classes for free online at many of the finer colleges. You will need internet though. It is the best way to be online.
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