I learned today that the term, "Blue Moon" does not, in fact, mean a full moon twice in one month, but rather the third moon in a season with four full moons. To quote Wikipedia (and to summarize our wonderfully thorough (insane?) weatherman on WORT):
"Blue moon is also a name given to the third full moon of four during a given season. The Farmer's Almanac also defines blue moon as the third full moon of four that occurs in a season... From 1946, people started calling a full moon a blue moon if it was the second of two full moons to occur in the same calendar month. This definition of blue moon originated from a mistake in an article in the March 1946 Sky & Telescope magazine, which misinterpreted the dates & meaning provided by the Farmer's Almanac."
Which means that right now, we have a blue moon. So, Dad, you said you would come to visit, "once in a blue moon." I'm waiting.
"The term blue moon is commonly used metaphorically to describe a rare event, as in the saying 'once in a blue moon'. Early English used the term as an absurdity or impossibility." - Wikipedia
ReplyDeleteI enjoy visiting you, but I'm afraid it isn't in the stars this year.
You're just scared you'll end up with Mom in the car for 10 hours again!
ReplyDeleteLOL! Now that will only happen once in a blue moon.
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