Happy new mo...
Feb. 29th, 2012 10:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulyoh. It's not a new month. It's leap year.
That always trips me up.
On the subject of calendars always tripping me up, I was trying (I forget why) to explain the Roman calendar to the nieces the other day. Here's a quick rundown.
The Romans, for some reason known only to them, had an incredibly sadistic system where you couldn't just say "It's the 5th of Whenever" or even "It's 3 days after the Ides". No, in their system you had to know which event was coming up next, and then count backwards to figure out what day it was.
Furthermore, look at this:
The days from the Kalends to the Nones of March would have been written:
Kal.
ante diem VI Non. Mart.
ante diem V Non. Mart.
ante diem IV Non. Mart.
ante diem III Non. Mart.
pr. Non. Mart.
Nonae
The site doesn't bother to explain this, but you all know Roman numerals. Look at it closely. It goes straight from "Three days before the Nones" to "The day before the Nones" and then "Nones of March!"
This is because the Romans, who clearly were drunk, used inclusive counting on their calendar. There is no two days before anything. When I first heard this, I literally could not believe it. I still can't believe it, and sometimes wonder if it's not all a very esoteric joke.
This is all a little pointless, because honestly, when will it ever come up?, but every once in a while I remember learning this and want to share the madness. Enjoy!
That always trips me up.
On the subject of calendars always tripping me up, I was trying (I forget why) to explain the Roman calendar to the nieces the other day. Here's a quick rundown.
The Romans, for some reason known only to them, had an incredibly sadistic system where you couldn't just say "It's the 5th of Whenever" or even "It's 3 days after the Ides". No, in their system you had to know which event was coming up next, and then count backwards to figure out what day it was.
Furthermore, look at this:
The days from the Kalends to the Nones of March would have been written:
Kal.
ante diem VI Non. Mart.
ante diem V Non. Mart.
ante diem IV Non. Mart.
ante diem III Non. Mart.
pr. Non. Mart.
Nonae
The site doesn't bother to explain this, but you all know Roman numerals. Look at it closely. It goes straight from "Three days before the Nones" to "The day before the Nones" and then "Nones of March!"
This is because the Romans, who clearly were drunk, used inclusive counting on their calendar. There is no two days before anything. When I first heard this, I literally could not believe it. I still can't believe it, and sometimes wonder if it's not all a very esoteric joke.
This is all a little pointless, because honestly, when will it ever come up?, but every once in a while I remember learning this and want to share the madness. Enjoy!
