# Weird Calendar Stuff That Somebody Ought To Fix
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 5, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729 "2005-08-05T16:31:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/1 "2005-08-05T16:31:04Z")
Does it bother you that the starting days for the seasons come around the 21st of the months involved, instead of the first of the next month (January, April, July, October)?
Does the “30 days hath September” jingle give you fits?
Does it bug you that in the USA (Northern Hemisphere even) that “summer” seems to have become the Memorial Day to Labor Day period?
Does it piss you off that Congress nitwits want to legislate Daylight Saving Time?
Are there other anomalies of the calendar that we ought to just fix once and for all? What chance do you give to calendar reform efforts?
---
### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/2 "2005-08-05T16:37:31Z")
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> Does the “30 days hath September” jingle give you fits?
30 days hath September
That is all I can remember
There’s a calendar on the wall
Why bother with this shit at all?
---
### Author:  [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/3 "2005-08-05T16:51:09Z")
Great. I’d taken the time to finally re-memorize that stupid mnemonic device and now you’ve gone and replaced it with an admittedly, much funnier, but ultimately useless version. Damn you.
---
### Author:  [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/4 "2005-08-05T16:52:01Z")
If I had my druthers, I’d just ditch 11 of the months and make one year long month. I would call it Slortuary.
---
### Author:  [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/5 "2005-08-05T17:00:44Z")
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> Does it bug you that in the USA (Northern Hemisphere even) that “summer” seems to have become the Memorial Day to Labor Day period?
What bugs me is that Midsummer’s and Midwinter’s Days have become the “start” of summer and winter.
---
### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/6 "2005-08-05T17:06:25Z")
> [@Maus Magill](#):
>
> What bugs me is that Midsummer’s and Midwinter’s Days have become the “start” of summer and winter.
[The Master speaks on this subject](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_170b.html).
---
### Author:  [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/7 "2005-08-05T17:10:41Z")
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> Does it bother you that the starting days for the seasons come around the 21st of the months involved, instead of the first of the next month (January, April, July, October)?
Yes, the little OCD part of me has always hated that. The seasons should start on the first day of the month. Don’t even get me started on how messy it that some months have 30 days, some have 31, and then February has 28 days, except for Leap Years. It’s a freaking mess.
> [@](#):
>
> Does the “30 days hath September” jingle give you fits?
“Thirty days hath September, all the rest I can’t remember.” 😉
And who the hell says ‘hath’? It sounds like someone lisping and trying to say ‘has’ but even that (“Thirty days has September…”) is wrong, grammatically speaking. It should be “Thirty days _are in_ September…” or “September has thirty days…”
---
### Author:  [@Lillith\_Fair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lillith_Fair)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/8 "2005-08-05T17:19:55Z")
I just count my knuckles. The knuckles are the 31’s and between the knuckles are the 30’s, except for February which is 28 or 29, but not 31. You start over at August, thus two knuckles in a row.
Okay, I guess I’m officially a weirdo because that probably makes no sense.
I hate calendars that begin on Monday. I can’t get used to them and keep writing things on the wrong days. I’m too old to start the week on Monday instead of Sunday.
---
### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/9 "2005-08-05T17:32:52Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#):
>
> Don’t even get me started on how messy it that some months have 30 days, some have 31, and then February has 28 days, except for Leap Years. It’s a freaking mess.
Try the [Jewish calendar](http://www.jewfaq.org/calendar.htm) on for size if you think the civil calendar is messed up. Not only are months different lengths, and the lengths of some months vary from year to year, but we don’t even have the same number of months every year.
---
### Author:  [@Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoodoo_Ulove)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/10 "2005-08-05T17:34:11Z")
> [@Anne Neville](#):
>
> 30 days hath September
> That is all I can remember
> There’s a calendar on the wall
> Why bother with this shit at all?
Thirty days hath Septober
April, June and no wonder
All the rest have peanut butter
Except Grandmother; she drives the Buick
---
### Author:  [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/11 "2005-08-05T18:38:01Z")
> [@Lillith Fair](#):
>
> I just count my knuckles. The knuckles are the 31’s and between the knuckles are the 30’s, except for February which is 28 or 29, but not 31. You start over at August, thus two knuckles in a row.
>
> Okay, I guess I’m officially a weirdo because that probably makes no sense.
>
> I hate calendars that begin on Monday. I can’t get used to them and keep writing things on the wrong days. I’m too old to start the week on Monday instead of Sunday.
That’s how I do it too. I make two fists and January is my pinky knuckle, February is the space between the knuckles, March is the ring finger knuckle, and so on. The months that have 31 days are the knuckles, the other months are the spaces inbetween. When you run out of knuckles on one hand (you don’t use your thumbs) then you start with the knuckle on your other hand and keep going.
E3
---
### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/12 "2005-08-05T18:53:20Z")
I say we should make five months of 75 days each. And stick an extra day in there every four years to keep the planets aligned and whatnot. But don’t call it “76.” That will just confuse people. Call it super-special-happy-fun-leaping-amazing-day-that’s-so-awesome-it-only-comes-once-every-four-years-except-when-it-doesn’t-day.
---
### Author:  [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/13 "2005-08-05T18:53:38Z")
> [@Zeldar](#):
>
> Does it bother you that the starting days for the seasons come around the 21st of the months involved, instead of the first of the next month (January, April, July, October)?
Actually, if you’re going to change the seasons to start at the beginning of a calendar month, it would make more sense to bring the start dates backwards, rather than forwards, so the seasons start on December, March, June, September. That would at least have the advatage, per Cecil’s article linked by **Anne Neville** , of putting the seasons more closely in line with the actual weather patterns.
For example, as Cecil says in that article:
> [@](#):
>
> In the Northern Hemisphere the period of maximum daylight falls roughly between May 7 and August 7–in other words, the six weeks before and after the solstice. The period of maximum temperature, on the other hand, is June 4 through September 3.
This being the case, it makes absolutely no sense to start summer on July 1.
---
### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/14 "2005-08-05T18:56:45Z")
I like your thinking, **mhendo**.
---
### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/15 "2005-08-05T19:03:16Z")
> [@Enright3](#):
>
> That’s how I do it too. I make two fists and January is my pinky knuckle, February is the space between the knuckles, March is the ring finger knuckle, and so on. The months that have 31 days are the knuckles, the other months are the spaces inbetween. When you run out of knuckles on one hand (you don’t use your thumbs) then you start with the knuckle on your other hand and keep going.
> E3
Well…thanks for that handy little trick.
---
### Author:  [@Alias](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alias)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/16 "2005-08-05T19:20:04Z")
I much prefer the way it’s handled in the video game Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland. In that game, there are no months, just seasons. Each season has thirty days, so the year itself has only 120 days. Much easier, in my opinion. 😃
---
### Author:  [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/17 "2005-08-05T19:32:55Z")
I wish Memorial Day and Labor Day were on Fridays rather than Mondays. I always prefer a three day weekend that starts on Thursday night. An extra Friday sort of feels like an extra Saturday, whereas an extra Monday seems more like a second Sunday.
Plus when I start work on Tuesday after a Monday off my internal calendar is screwed up all week.
---
### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [August 5, 2005, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/18 "2005-08-05T19:39:41Z")
> [@friedo](#):
>
> I say we should make five months of 75 days each.
Ummm… that’s a 375-day year. Five months of 73 days each would work (well, as well as anything can, what with the year not being an integer number of days and all…)
> [@photopat](#):
>
> I wish Memorial Day and Labor Day were on Fridays rather than Mondays. I always prefer a three day weekend that starts on Thursday night. An extra Friday sort of feels like an extra Saturday, whereas an extra Monday seems more like a second Sunday.
I feel the same way about extra Fridays versus extra Mondays.
And, if holidays fell on Friday instead of Monday, we wouldn’t all go through the week feeling like it’s a day earlier than it is. I always think it’s Tuesday when it’s really Wednesday during those weeks when we have Monday off.
---
### Author:  [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2005, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/19 "2005-08-06T11:59:07Z")
Thirteen months of four weeks of seven days 13 x 28 = 364 So add one Midsummer Day which is not in any month or week. In leap years add a Midwinter Day also.
Of course, calendar reform (like spelling reform) is a sign of madness.
---
### Author:  [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)
#### Post date: [August 6, 2005, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729/20 "2005-08-06T12:03:28Z")
That would have the singular advantage of each month starting on the same day. So the (say) third of each month would always be a Monday. Biggest problem would be the lack of quarter for quarterly reports. Also it is had to wrap your head around the idea of a day that is no month.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-calendar-stuff-that-somebody-ought-to-fix/315729.md?page=2)