# February 29th, why not stick it on the end of July? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 29, 2004, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th-why-not-stick-it-on-the-end-of-july/231732 "2004-02-29T08:31:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th-why-not-stick-it-on-the-end-of-july/231732/21 "2004-02-29T22:49:19Z")
> [@N9IWP](#): > > Even if the the extra day was put in July, it wouldn’t make warm WX come any sooner, or last any longer. If we made the calendar one month of 365.249 days and called it July it wouldn’t make it any warmer. Pssst - it was a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th-why-not-stick-it-on-the-end-of-july/231732/22 "2004-03-01T14:14:46Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > In my scheme there are 36 10-day weeks in the year, each month is three weeks long. You work for 6 of the days per week and you have a 4-day weekend (so you can actually travel places to see people). You then get an extra 5 holiday days at the end of the year for just messing about, and in a Leap Year you just stick the extra day there. That happens to be the French revolutionary calendar. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th-why-not-stick-it-on-the-end-of-july/231732/23 "2004-03-01T15:57:57Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > That happens to be the French revolutionary calendar. Those darn French revolutionaries are always trying to steal good ideas from Dopers! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th-why-not-stick-it-on-the-end-of-july/231732/24 "2004-03-01T16:26:42Z")
The **jjimm** , AKA French Revolutionary calendar has an advantage he didn’t even mention - it is a “perennial” calendar - that is the same calendar works every year with a given date always falling on the same weekday. (One important difference in execution between him and the French Revolutionaries - the peasants complained about the new calendar because it only gave them one day off in ten, to attend a “temple of reason” instead of one day off in seven, to attend church. They lengthened the week, but not the weekend.) There have been several proposed calendar reforms producing a perennial calendar, usually observing that while 365 has awkward factorability (5 \* 73), 360 has tons of factors and 364 is pretty good (in particular, it divides by 7, our current week length). Removing 1 or 5 days and making them non-weekdays (2 or 6 on leap years) allows you to divide the rest into equal sized groups. None of which will ever happen, of course. Personally, I prefer the so-called “World Calendar” proposal, which takes one day out, leaves all the month and day names in place, and leaves us with four identical three month periods: [http://personal.ecu.edu/mccartyr/world-calendar.html](http://personal.ecu.edu/mccartyr/world-calendar.html) Of course, this calendar assures 4 Friday the 13th’s every year … ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th-why-not-stick-it-on-the-end-of-july/231732/25 "2004-03-01T16:29:49Z")
Only difference is the French tried to keep to the two-day weekend, which meant there was an eight-day work week. _Non, merci!_! ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th-why-not-stick-it-on-the-end-of-july/231732/26 "2004-03-01T16:30:54Z")
Or nine. **yabob** is correct. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2004, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th-why-not-stick-it-on-the-end-of-july/231732/27 "2004-03-01T17:01:18Z")
And when I told the people in the hospital I was Robespierre, they gave me a jacket with no sleeves! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th-why-not-stick-it-on-the-end-of-july/231732.md?page=1)