It might seem like a silly question, buy why can't February have thirty days instead of 28? It wouldn't be that hard to do. All that would be required is to shave off a day each from January and March, still leaving them with 30 days each. Of course, every leap year, February would then have 31 days.
The next question then is who gets to make the official decision to change the calendar so that February gets two days and January and March each lose one? Is there some International Calendar association that has some authority in these matters?
Undoubtedly, there are more pressing problems in the world than giving February thirty days. But it is annoying, especially when you have to calculate deadlines that extend through February and into March, and you have to take into account that February has only 28 days. If it had 30 days, such calculations would be greatly simplified.
Extending the month of February to 30 days might also be popular with African-Americans. I am sure more than a few of them are not happy that Black History Month falls on the shortest month of the year. Maybe it can become Jesse Jackson's new pet cause.
3 comments:
The Gregorian calendar was decreed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 in the papal bull Inter gravissimas.
The Gregorian calendar works fine; if it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Blame the Caesars! Julius and Augustus both renamed the summer months after themselves, and because it wouldn't be right to have only thirty days in their month, they plundered poor February.
Incidentally, did you know there's a wee rhyme to help you remember the number of days in each month?
Thirty-one days hath December,
Jan, Mar, May, Jul, Aug, Oct.
The rest to thirty days are docked
Except for February
Which has twenty-nine days clear
And twenty-eight each un-leap year!
I believe the whole rhyme is:
Thirty-one days hath December,
Plus some others we remember:
Jan, Mar, May, Jul, Aug and Oct -
The rest to thirty days are docked
But Feb has twenty-nine days clear
And twenty-eight each un-leap year!
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