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Writer's Block: Will he or won't he?
Feb. 2nd, 2010 11:31 am
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Useless question. I try to explain this every year, and every year not enough people hear me, clearly.
The Groundhog Day tradition runs like this:
IF he sees his shadow, it's six more weeks of winter. IF he does NOT see his shadow, it's six more weeks until spring. The first is supposed to mean "long winter" and the second "long spring", but anybody with any sort of mathematical ability whatsoever should be able to tell you that the two statements - six weeks until spring, six weeks of winter - add up to the same thing. This is what I like to call a joke, except that some people don't understand that and take it all too seriously. And even when they don't (because really, that's absurd) they still do in that they think that the holiday theoretically means something when really it doesn't.
Now, as it happens, we celebrate today because it's halfway between the winter solstice (Midwinter) and the spring equinox. We have six weeks on either side. This is something no groundhog can change - in six weeks, we'll all be talking about how we can balance eggs on their ends but only on the equinox, an equally silly statement.
So go! Tell your friends!
Useless question. I try to explain this every year, and every year not enough people hear me, clearly.
The Groundhog Day tradition runs like this:
IF he sees his shadow, it's six more weeks of winter. IF he does NOT see his shadow, it's six more weeks until spring. The first is supposed to mean "long winter" and the second "long spring", but anybody with any sort of mathematical ability whatsoever should be able to tell you that the two statements - six weeks until spring, six weeks of winter - add up to the same thing. This is what I like to call a joke, except that some people don't understand that and take it all too seriously. And even when they don't (because really, that's absurd) they still do in that they think that the holiday theoretically means something when really it doesn't.
Now, as it happens, we celebrate today because it's halfway between the winter solstice (Midwinter) and the spring equinox. We have six weeks on either side. This is something no groundhog can change - in six weeks, we'll all be talking about how we can balance eggs on their ends but only on the equinox, an equally silly statement.
So go! Tell your friends!
