# What happens on May 33rd but only on leap year? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 4, 2000, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637 "2000-11-04T01:33:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2001, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/121 "2001-01-27T18:10:37Z")
The game seems to go on until someone gets it right. What would happen if it got to 2002 and still no-one had it? ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2001, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/122 "2001-01-27T18:45:31Z")
Gotta be a literary reference if the answer is found in the library. I can’t help thinking we are very close. Children’s books…is anyone out there a children’s librarian? ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2001, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/123 "2001-01-27T18:58:29Z")
The _exact_ phrasing (as Brian said it on Thurs.) “What happens on May 33rd only on leap year.” Other hints given Thursday: When the answers for question 1 and 2 were given, Bob and Brian made a BIG deal about the fact that these guys (G. Etzel Pearcy and Robert Recorde) _invented_ these items (state of Dearborn and equal sign). They kept saying things like “He just invented it. He got tired of doing it the old way, so he invented a new way.” ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2001, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/124 "2001-01-27T21:08:20Z")
Did some searching in ProQuest… Source: The San Diego Union - Tribune; San Diego, Calif.; Dec 26, 1988; Title: “The World” It looks like a review of memorable sporting events from 1988. Snips and emphasis mine. > [@](#): > > Jan. 31 – The Super Bowl has a new stage and an old plot. San Diego hosts another blowout. > Washington 42, Denver 10. > > Jan. 32 – Bidwill decides Phoenix is too hot, and moves his team to Nome, Alaska. The new mascot will > be a penguin. > > … > > Feb. 29 – Mike Shanahan, Denver’s offensive coordinator and quarterback coach, is named head coach > of the Broncos’ AFC West rival, the L.A. Raiders. > > Feb. 30 – Eddie “The Eagle” says his next challenge will be to skydive without a parachute. Someone > points out that he’s already done that. > > … > > March 30 – Walt Hazzard, the fifth coach at UCLA since John Wooden, earns a distinction among > Bruins basketball coaches. He becomes the first to be fired. > > March 33 – The USFL merges with the MISL. > > … > > April 30 – Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose shoves umpire Dave Pallone in a ninth-inning argument of > a 6-5 home loss. “I don’t make a habit of arguing with umpires,” Rose says, “but if someone’s going to try > to take a game away from me, if somebody’s going to try to poke me in the eye and hit my cheekbone (as > Rose claims), he’s going to get splattered.” > > April 35 – The Orioles turn a double play. > > … > > May 29 – Rick Mears, the pole sitter, wins his third Indy 500 in, appropriately, a yellow car. There are a > record 14 yellow caution flags in the race, and Mears gets the checkered flag under one. > > **May 33 – A janitor leaves a door open at the Boston Garden, and the candles blow out.** > > … > > etc. Hell, it’s from a leap year, and it’s obscure. Works for me. I am hereby through wasting time on this. ---
**Author:** ![Tiburon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e36b37/32.png) [@Tiburon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tiburon)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2001, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/125 "2001-01-27T21:18:16Z")
That’s got to be it! Anyone tried that yet?? Tibs. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2001, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/126 "2001-01-27T21:34:38Z")
If they do it and win, I expect a portion of the proceeds. Cash or Camel Lights soft pack, please. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![coldstream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@coldstream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coldstream)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2001, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/127 "2001-01-28T06:46:57Z")
Wasn’t there a Looney Toons cartoon where Porky Pig was sold some insurance by Daffy Duck? I seem to recall that he could only collect if there was a hail storm and he was trampled by a baby zebra and it was a leap year etc. Was May 33rd involved? I can’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![dreamlab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8dc957/32.png) [@dreamlab](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dreamlab)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2001, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/128 "2001-01-28T15:08:43Z")
Great thinking coldstream, but alas, it was July 4th…see below Realm: Comics Question: As an official representative of the Hotfoot Casualty Underwriter Insurance Company of Schenectady, Daffy Duck once signed Porky Pig to a specific insurance policy that was worth a million dollars. However, the policy ONLY paid off following a very specific chain of events. Name this chain of events. Answer: The insuree had to suffer a black eye, because of a stampede of elephants, in his own living room, on July 4th, between 3:55 and 4:00 in the afternoon, during a hailstorm, and including one baby zebra. Song: “Jambalaya (On the Bayou),” by the Blue Ridge Rangers (NOTE: Surprise, surprise-- Porky collected.) ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2001, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/129 "2001-02-01T18:57:28Z")
Two perfectly good answers submitted here (rock concert + door left open by janitor), respecting all criteria, were summarily dismissed by the jocks. Why? Because they didn’t happen to coincide with the 17th possibility these geniuses were thinking of when they popped the question the first time??? This SUCKS big time!! I’m dying to learn what brillant and utterly obscure answer they come up with. Hopefully, it won’t boil down to an exceptionally stupid play on words, otherwise I wouldn’t give much for their collective hides. This whole affair is beginning to piss me off! ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2001, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/130 "2001-02-01T19:21:48Z")
What, somebody tried my janitor answer? And it was _ **wrong** _? Motherfuckers. ---
**Author:** ![dreamlab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8dc957/32.png) [@dreamlab](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dreamlab)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2001, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/131 "2001-02-01T22:25:15Z")
There’s so many responses here and I hope I’m not repeating a suggestion, but maybe there’s a more general answer involving obscure words. Suppose there’s a word out there whose definition means “an event that takes place on an invalid date.” Probably used in the printing industry, such as when fliers get made with an April 31st date. I don’t know of any such word, but I do know that there is a word pertaining to events that only take place during a leap year: bisextile (why not quad-something, I don’t know). Now, if there is a word out there meaning an event that takes place on an invalid date (let’s say “flibber”), then what would happen on May 33rd but only during a leap year? A bisextile flibber. ---
**Author:** ![red\_dragon60](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@red\_dragon60](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/red_dragon60)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2001, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/132 "2001-02-01T22:48:41Z")
Well, they say to go to the library and read. If it’s in a book, that means that it possibly would have to be popular enough that many libraries would carry it. Just a WAG. ---
**Author:** ![dave316](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dave316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dave316)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2001, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/133 "2001-02-01T22:59:29Z")
could it be some sort of game cheat ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2001, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/134 "2001-02-01T23:26:24Z")
My money is on Black455, but I have a further suggestion for anyone who really, really wants to do some crummy research (“in the barrel” research, is what we call it around here). In a particular Jerry Lewis film (I think it was [_The BellBoy_](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0053644), but I’m not sure-heh heh!), there is a “time passage” shot that shows a tear-away calendar counting off the days. The days are torn off one after the other until the end of the month is reached, then the numbers continue sequentially past that date, i.e. May 29, 30, 31, 32, 33… Get it? It might be the funniest gag in the whole film. I’m not sure if the month is May, either. Anyway, I suggest the possibility that there may be a sequence of dialog that indirectly refers to that date, something like, “Stanley, did you take a message to Mr. Scheiss on Tuesday?” Or something like that. Then you’d have to figure out how to tie leap year in with it. I offer the suggestion because the question is annoying enough to involve Jerry Lewis. We may have to turn this one over to our French pals. ---
**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:** [February 2, 2001, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/135 "2001-02-02T00:23:18Z")
I thought somebody brought this up already, but I can’t seem to find it. There are many proposals for constructing Martian calendars. Some of them take the approach of sticking with 12 months and making them longer, like this one: [http://www-star.stanford.edu/~frankb/cal.html](http://www-star.stanford.edu/~frankb/cal.html) That calendar at least has a legitimate “May 33” on it, and Martian calendar schemes also neccesitate some leap year correction, as the Martian day doesn’t evenly divide its year either. You will note that there is a leap year system described with that one. If we are referring to a martian calendar used in a science fiction work, I suspect it’s not a well known one like Kim Stanley Robinson’s “{Red|Green|Blue} Mars” or Ray Bradbury’s “Martian Chronicles” or people would have gotten it by this time. It could be a non-fictional Martian calendar proposal which included some events marked on it, or a more obscure fictional work. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/136 "2001-02-02T00:33:18Z")
Following **mellonhead’s** post, is it possible that the first part of the question actually reads, “What happens on May 30 third…”? ---
**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:** [February 2, 2001, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/137 "2001-02-02T00:40:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gadarene \* > \*\*Following **mellonhead’s** post, is it possible that the first part of the question actually reads, “What happens on May 30 third…”? \*\* Not likely. The updated hints by the two jocks pretty clearly indicate an actual calendar actually labeled May 33. The guy moved his site, BTW. It’s now here: [http://home.wi.rr.com/youcantwin/](http://home.wi.rr.com/youcantwin/) ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/138 "2001-02-02T00:43:45Z")
Hence my earlier question: Does anybody know if this question is _officially_ **written** somewhere? It would appear not. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/139 "2001-02-02T01:18:10Z")
[Lazer103 Bob and Brian You Can’t Win contest website](http://www.lazer103.com/YouCantWin.asp) Hey, that wasn’t hard. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2001, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637/140 "2001-02-02T01:49:18Z")
You’re right. Wasn’t hard at all. Feel ashamed. On the positive side, it takes care of the “May 30, third” angle…🙂 Unless we have to weigh each and every word of the question very carefully, it doesn’t make sense in correct English. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-on-may-33rd-but-only-on-leap-year/39637.md?page=8)