# February 29th
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [March 1, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099 "2011-03-01T20:21:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/1 "2011-03-01T20:21:33Z")
Today is February 29th, sometimes, today in 2011 it’s March 1st.
So I thought I’d ask you all this?
Do any of you have important dates, to you, that have fallen on Febraury 29th. Such as births, deaths, weddings etc that over the course of your life have fallen on Feburary 29th? If so when do you celebrate it or remember it? On March 1st or Feb 28th, that is in years w/o a Feb 29th?
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2011, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/2 "2011-03-01T20:39:53Z")
I don’t, but I had a weird conversation with a friend the other day. She just turned 27 on the 14th. She mentioned that her grandmother is 19. I had a WTF? moment until she explained that her grandmother’s birthday is on the 29th.
Fourteen years ago they had their pictures in the paper because they were both 13.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/3 "2011-03-01T21:05:30Z")
That reminds me that I need to fix the date on my watch. It currently says it’s the 29th. 😛
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### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/4 "2011-03-01T21:09:31Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> That reminds me that I need to fix the date on my watch. It currently says it’s the 29th. 😛
And this completely didn’t occur to me until I saw your post. Mine too.
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/5 "2011-03-01T21:10:09Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> That reminds me that I need to fix the date on my watch. It currently says it’s the 29th. 😛
Thanks for noticing! Mine too.
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### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/6 "2011-03-01T22:12:45Z")
My boyfriend’s birthday. He’s six and three quarters this year. Next year we’re doing a big Mayan Apocalypse party for him.
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### Author:  [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2011, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/7 "2011-03-01T22:22:58Z")
I used to work with a guy whose birthday was Feb 29, 1956.
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### Author:  [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/8 "2011-03-01T22:53:06Z")
My birthday is Feb. 29th and I got married on Feb. 29th, though I’m in the process of getting a divorce now. I generally celebrate on Feb. 28th as that date at least has the correct month attached to it.
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### Author:  [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2011, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/9 "2011-03-01T23:01:35Z")
It’s ‘quaint’ that people who’s birthday falls on the 29th state themselves as being “6” or “13”, but I can’t help finding it a little bit annoying. Like the whole ‘dog years’ and ‘cat years’ thing. You’re not six, you’re 24 (or whatever)
bah humbug.
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### Author:  [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2011, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/10 "2011-03-01T23:31:51Z")
> [@Lobsang](#):
>
> It’s ‘quaint’ that people who’s birthday falls on the 29th state themselves as being “6” or “13”, but I can’t help finding it a little bit annoying. Like the whole ‘dog years’ and ‘cat years’ thing. You’re not six, you’re 24 (or whatever)
>
> bah humbug.
I agree with you. My father’s birthday is 29th Feb, but he’s 83, not 20 whatever. We celebrate on the 28th, then once every 4 years he gets a really big bash. I think it’s quite a good deal, actually.
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2011, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/11 "2011-03-01T23:33:07Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> That reminds me that I need to fix the date on my watch. It currently says it’s the 29th. 😛
I put the date on my watch forward to ‘31 Feb’ before I went to bed on Monday night.
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/12 "2011-03-01T23:36:43Z")
> [@Lobsang](#):
>
> It’s ‘quaint’ that people who’s birthday falls on the 29th state themselves as being “6” or “13”, but I can’t help finding it a little bit annoying.
Channelling Frederic from _The Pirates of Penzance_…
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### Author:  [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/13 "2011-03-01T23:38:52Z")
> [@Lobsang](#):
>
> It’s ‘quaint’ that people who’s birthday falls on the 29th state themselves as being “6” or “13”, but I can’t help finding it a little bit annoying. Like the whole ‘dog years’ and ‘cat years’ thing. You’re not six, you’re 24 (or whatever)
>
> bah humbug.
For what it’s worth, I hate people asking how old I “really” am.
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### Author:  [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/14 "2011-03-02T00:23:01Z")
My ex-fiancee was born on the 29th, but on the “off years” they celebrated on the 28th. I asked her mom about it, figuring she’d know why, and she said she asked at the hospital when leap babies’ birthdays are celebrated, and, per the nurse she asked, those born before noon celebrate on the 28th, those after noon on March 1. Since the ex was born in the am …
(I like the answer “it has the right month attached to it” explanation, and I’m sure that other leap babies do it that way too.)
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### Author:  [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/15 "2011-03-02T15:30:18Z")
I completed my PhD on February 29, 2000. My university won’t have another person complete a PhD on 2/29/00 for a loooong time.
There is a woman here at work who completed her PhD on the same date. She got hers in the Netherlands, and mine is from the US. Strange coincidences.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/16 "2011-03-02T15:38:54Z")
> [@mcgato](#):
>
> I completed my PhD on February 29, 2000.
Um… Are you sure about that?
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### Author:  [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/17 "2011-03-02T15:42:55Z")
I have three friends whose birthdays fall on Feb 29th. Two of them celebrated on the 28th but one was always March 1st. I have no idea why.
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### Author:  [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/18 "2011-03-02T15:47:09Z")
A former boss of mine was not only born on Feb. 29, he was born in a (Hebrew calendar) “leap month”\*
If we were to decide that he only gets to celebrate when both coincide he’d probably be about 4 or 5 “years old” right now… (he just turned 47 IIRC)
- Luni-solar calendar – each year has 12 lunar (29 or 30 day) months for a total of 354, and there are 7 “leap months” in a 19-year cycle for an additional 210 days to round out the difference (with a bit more futzing around to even out the rest of the difference, but this is the basics).
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/19 "2011-03-02T15:51:39Z")
> [@Cunctator](#):
>
> Channelling Frederic from _The Pirates of Penzance_…
O horrible! Catastrophy apalling!
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### Author:  [@uuaschbaer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uuaschbaer)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-29th/573099/20 "2011-03-02T16:08:14Z")
> [@SanVito](#):
>
> I agree with you. My father’s birthday is 29th Feb, but he’s 83, not 20 whatever. We celebrate on the 28th, then once every 4 years he gets a really big bash. I think it’s quite a good deal, actually.
Surely it makes more sense to pick the first of March as an alternative, that being the day it would’ve been his birthday if it were it a leap year. On the other hand the day could be tainted with the feeling that it was already over before it had begun. In any case: congratulations! 🙂
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