Why does February only have 28 days?

[Craigieboy]

Kind of a lame shit, diddy, piss ant month February isn't it.

 

Of all the months, it's the sort of odd ball, wimpy, freakshow month. Nothing like August. The exact opposite of February.

 

I was pondering this today as I was in the throws of my deepest thoughts at work - why does February only have 28 days?

 

.

[Big D]

Kind of a lame shit, diddy, piss ant month February isn't it.

 

Of all the months, it's the sort of odd ball, wimpy, freakshow month. Nothing like August. The exact opposite of February.

 

I was pondering this today as I was in the throws of my deepest thoughts at work - why does February only have 28 days?

 

.

Sometimes it has 29.

[2NaFish]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=why+does+february+only+have+28+days%3F

 

 

 

 

There was a time when the year began in the month containing the beginning of Spring, namely March. This meant that February was the last month of the year, and it originally had 30 days. (This is also why September, October, November, and December have roots for 7, 8, 9 and 10, respectively, even though they don't fall in those positions now.)

 

July and August were renamed for Caesars of Rome and at the time those months were only 30 days. To honor the greatness of the Caesars, those months were extended to 31 days each and the days were taken from the end of the year, which at the time was February.

 

When Christendom spread further, the beginning of the Calendar was changed to coincide with the month epiphany, rather than the pagan tradition of the month of the vernal equinox.

The months we have today came from the Romans; originally there were 10 months - which explains the September, October, November and December names - which come from the Latin for 7, 8, 9 and 10. The problems started when Julius Caesar became the dictator perpetuo (dictator for life). He wanted his own month (July) - all the months had to be shortened to create the new month.

 

Next, Augustus became emperor and he wanted his own month (August) and he also wanted it to be longer than July. To get August to be longer than July, poor February had to lose a couple of days.

Originally the calendar was used to track agricultural concerns and only had ten months March - December. the time that was to be January and February had no agricultural relevance. When the calendar was competed January continued with the numbering scheme after December and February simply ran out of days before March

 

 

It was a political, religious and superstitious decision made roughly 2700 years ago by the Roman King Numa Pompilius. Up to that point the Romans had a ten-month calendar with 304 days, and approximately 61 winter days (between December and March) that were not assigned to any month. Numa created a new twelve-month calendar with 355 days by adding January (29 days) and February (28 days). In general, February has contained 28 days ever since.

Interestingly, February's 28 days were the second month of the Roman civil calendar but the last (twelfth) month of their religious calendar.

This is quite involved and is concerned with pride and politics. This is a very simplified explanation.

 

Julius Caesar reformed the calendar because it was out of synchronisation with the actual seasons, this in the early part of 46BC. This year ended up by being 445 days long to bring the calendar back in line the the sky's and seasons.

Not surprisingly it was called the "year of confusion."

 

He created a calendar that more nearly matched the annual journey of the earth round the sun. There were twelve months with alternating lengths of 31 and 30 days.

The exception was February which had 29 days and Leap years gave February 30 days to keep the calendar correct. Much of his knowledge came from the Egyptians.

The senate had the month of Quintilius renamed July after Caesar as an honour to his reform.

 

When Augustus became emperor the senate voted that the month after, then called Sextilus, should be name in his honour and thus it became Augustus.

However the senate did not like the fact that Augustus's month had 30 days and Julius's has 31 so they changed Augustus to 31 days, taking the extra day from February. This threw into disarray the organised way the months changed from 30 and 31 days.

 

Not satisfied, they tinkered more altering the number of days in the months according to what they thought was important and because they did not want three consecutive months with 31 days.

 

Consequently February lost a day (except in leap years) and we were left with the apparently random way the months alternate.

 

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_does_February_have_28_days_while_the_other_months_have_30_or_31#ixzz1FGZ3Nva0

[Craigieboy]

Sometimes it has 29.

 

Exactly.

 

What do people do for their birthday if they are born on a leap year? The 28th or the 1st of March?

 

[Homme]

Kind of a lame shit, diddy, piss ant month February isn't it.

 

Of all the months, it's the sort of odd ball, wimpy, freakshow month. Nothing like August. The exact opposite of February.

 

I was pondering this today as I was in the throws of my deepest thoughts at work - why does February only have 28 days?

 

.

 

 

You are correct. August is the DADDY of all months.

[Homme]

Exactly.

 

What do people do for their birthday if they are born on a leap year? The 28th or the 1st of March?

 

 

 

My mates auntie was born on Feb 29th.

 

She's about 12 years old

[Big D]

Exactly.

 

What do people do for their birthday if they are born on a leap year? The 28th or the 1st of March?

 

They get married. Only chance us uglies have.

[PsychocAndy]

I lost my virginity 34 years ago today or tomorrow after my mates 3 1/4 birthday party. Also I tried to talk the "Far-too-good-for-the-likes-of-me" Mrs PsychocAndy into a leap year day wedding, as it would be easier to remember but she was having none of it. Unlike her sister who married a fellow kickbacker on Jimmi Hendrix's birthday so he would remember.

[eddie fenwick]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=why+does+february+only+have+28+days%3F

 

 

 

 

There was a time when the year began in the month containing the beginning of Spring, namely March. This meant that February was the last month of the year, and it originally had 30 days. (This is also why September, October, November, and December have roots for 7, 8, 9 and 10, respectively, even though they don't fall in those positions now.)

 

July and August were renamed for Caesars of Rome and at the time those months were only 30 days. To honor the greatness of the Caesars, those months were extended to 31 days each and the days were taken from the end of the year, which at the time was February.

 

When Christendom spread further, the beginning of the Calendar was changed to coincide with the month epiphany, rather than the pagan tradition of the month of the vernal equinox.

The months we have today came from the Romans; originally there were 10 months - which explains the September, October, November and December names - which come from the Latin for 7, 8, 9 and 10. The problems started when Julius Caesar became the dictator perpetuo (dictator for life). He wanted his own month (July) - all the months had to be shortened to create the new month.

 

Next, Augustus became emperor and he wanted his own month (August) and he also wanted it to be longer than July. To get August to be longer than July, poor February had to lose a couple of days.

Originally the calendar was used to track agricultural concerns and only had ten months March - December. the time that was to be January and February had no agricultural relevance. When the calendar was competed January continued with the numbering scheme after December and February simply ran out of days before March

 

 

It was a political, religious and superstitious decision made roughly 2700 years ago by the Roman King Numa Pompilius. Up to that point the Romans had a ten-month calendar with 304 days, and approximately 61 winter days (between December and March) that were not assigned to any month. Numa created a new twelve-month calendar with 355 days by adding January (29 days) and February (28 days). In general, February has contained 28 days ever since.

Interestingly, February's 28 days were the second month of the Roman civil calendar but the last (twelfth) month of their religious calendar.

This is quite involved and is concerned with pride and politics. This is a very simplified explanation.

 

Julius Caesar reformed the calendar because it was out of synchronisation with the actual seasons, this in the early part of 46BC. This year ended up by being 445 days long to bring the calendar back in line the the sky's and seasons.

Not surprisingly it was called the "year of confusion."

 

He created a calendar that more nearly matched the annual journey of the earth round the sun. There were twelve months with alternating lengths of 31 and 30 days.

The exception was February which had 29 days and Leap years gave February 30 days to keep the calendar correct. Much of his knowledge came from the Egyptians.

The senate had the month of Quintilius renamed July after Caesar as an honour to his reform.

 

When Augustus became emperor the senate voted that the month after, then called Sextilus, should be name in his honour and thus it became Augustus.

However the senate did not like the fact that Augustus's month had 30 days and Julius's has 31 so they changed Augustus to 31 days, taking the extra day from February. This threw into disarray the organised way the months changed from 30 and 31 days.

 

Not satisfied, they tinkered more altering the number of days in the months according to what they thought was important and because they did not want three consecutive months with 31 days.

 

Consequently February lost a day (except in leap years) and we were left with the apparently random way the months alternate.

 

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_does_February_have_28_days_while_the_other_months_have_30_or_31#ixzz1FGZ3Nva0

youve taken that to far

[BoJack Horseman]

I concur with August being the Daddy of all months.

[Buffalo Bill]

August 26th in particular.

[Homme]

August 26th in particular.

 

Will forgive your typo and agree with the 27th being the greatest of them all.

[Mr Romanov Saviour of HMFC]

August is the business.

 

Leo FTW.

[BoJack Horseman]

Will forgive your typo and agree with the 27th being the greatest of them all.

 

I will also forgive your typo and BB's previously and agree with the 25th being the greatest of them all. All great men were born on the 25th of the month.

[Ignoranus]

Coz god said so

[hughesie27]

jul. its brilliant

[P-Dizzle]

I'd also agree that August is the dugs.

 

21st in particular, we pumped Hamilton on that day last year too.

[The People's Chimp]

August is the business.

 

Leo FTW.

 

July is the way forward, but I agree Leo FTW.

[Boris]

On the plus side, as Feb is a short month it means pay day comes round again that bit sooner (or seems to) especially after the Xmas splurge.

[Guest juvehearts]

anyone born on 22,23,24th september was a christmas present.

 

 

think about it

 

juve

[Swanny17]

February the shortest month, October the longest month. In the UK anyway.

[BoJack Horseman]

anyone born on 22,23,24th september was a christmas present.

 

 

think about it

 

juve

 

Similarly, anyone born around mid-november was more than likely a product of St Valentine.

[Sooperstar]

August is a yes month. The 10th is a yes day.

[hmfc_steve]

<br />I lost my virginity 34 years ago today or tomorrow after my mates 3 1/4 birthday party. Also I tried to talk the &quot;Far-too-good-for-the-likes-of-me&quot; Mrs PsychocAndy into a leap year day wedding, as it would be easier to remember but she was having none of it. Unlike her sister who married a fellow kickbacker on Jimmi Hendrix's birthday so he would remember.<br />

<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />deny it all !!!!... and it's Jimi !!!

[PsychocAndy]

anyone born on 22,23,24th september was a christmas present.

 

 

think about it

 

juve

My Auld Lady must be lying as she said My Da never gave her any good pressies, but I'm her favourite out of the 3 of us.

23/09/64 best Christmas pressie since Jesus.

[PsychocAndy]

<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />deny it all !!!!... and it's Jimi !!!

 

He's dead I think me getting his name wrong isn't going to hurt him.

[jambovambo]

From the Guardian today; http://m.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/feb/28/leap-year-alex-bellos?cat=science&type=article

 

Today is the last day of February. We know this because 2011 is not a leap year ? because 2011 is not divisible by four. Only on years divisible by four ? such as 2012 ? does February have 29 days. Well, kind of.

The leap year rule that has been in place since 1582 is a bit more complicated. Years that are divisible by four are leap years, with the exception of years that are divisible by 100, which are not leap years, and with the final exception of years divisible by 400, which are.

This is confusing, so a British mathematician has suggested switching to a better rule, but before I get to that, this is why leap years are needed in the first place. The number of days it takes the sun to return to the same position as seen from Earth is 365.2421897. The extra day in February is used to adjust the calendar for the cumulative effect of the excess 0.2421897 of a?day.

If the rule is that leap years only fall on years divisible by four, as was the case for the millennium and a half before 1582, then the calendar shifts on average by about 11 minutes a year. It then only takes about a century and a half for it to be a whole day out.

Under our current rule, the calendar shifts by an average of about 26 seconds a year, which means it will be one day out by about the year 4000. Better, but not perfect. (And ignoring variance in the solar year.)

The following rule, devised recently by British maths brainiac Adam P Goucher, is much cleverer: years divisible by 128 are not a leap year, otherwise years divisible by four are a leap year. The 128 rule only shifts the calendar by about 0.2 seconds a year, which means it will take almost half a million years for the calendar to be a day out. That's called forward planning.

[Boomstick]

August is shite.

[Boof]

February has only 28 days because those people born in February are so awesomely excellent that it gives the other months a few more days-worth of people to try and catch up.

That they have monumentally failed to do so is no fault of us Februrians.

[Rick Grimes]

On the plus side, as Feb is a short month it means pay day comes round again that bit sooner (or seems to) especially after the Xmas splurge.

 

 

aye, in March it does thanks to February's shortness.

 

 

my question is why the first 'r'?

[fordy]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=why+does+february+only+have+28+days%3F

 

 

 

 

There was a time when the year began in the month containing the beginning of Spring, namely March. This meant that February was the last month of the year, and it originally had 30 days. (This is also why September, October, November, and December have roots for 7, 8, 9 and 10, respectively, even though they don't fall in those positions now.)

 

July and August were renamed for Caesars of Rome and at the time those months were only 30 days. To honor the greatness of the Caesars, those months were extended to 31 days each and the days were taken from the end of the year, which at the time was February.

 

When Christendom spread further, the beginning of the Calendar was changed to coincide with the month epiphany, rather than the pagan tradition of the month of the vernal equinox.

The months we have today came from the Romans; originally there were 10 months - which explains the September, October, November and December names - which come from the Latin for 7, 8, 9 and 10. The problems started when Julius Caesar became the dictator perpetuo (dictator for life). He wanted his own month (July) - all the months had to be shortened to create the new month.

 

Next, Augustus became emperor and he wanted his own month (August) and he also wanted it to be longer than July. To get August to be longer than July, poor February had to lose a couple of days.

Originally the calendar was used to track agricultural concerns and only had ten months March - December. the time that was to be January and February had no agricultural relevance. When the calendar was competed January continued with the numbering scheme after December and February simply ran out of days before March

 

 

It was a political, religious and superstitious decision made roughly 2700 years ago by the Roman King Numa Pompilius. Up to that point the Romans had a ten-month calendar with 304 days, and approximately 61 winter days (between December and March) that were not assigned to any month. Numa created a new twelve-month calendar with 355 days by adding January (29 days) and February (28 days). In general, February has contained 28 days ever since.

Interestingly, February's 28 days were the second month of the Roman civil calendar but the last (twelfth) month of their religious calendar.

This is quite involved and is concerned with pride and politics. This is a very simplified explanation.

 

Julius Caesar reformed the calendar because it was out of synchronisation with the actual seasons, this in the early part of 46BC. This year ended up by being 445 days long to bring the calendar back in line the the sky's and seasons.

Not surprisingly it was called the "year of confusion."

 

He created a calendar that more nearly matched the annual journey of the earth round the sun. There were twelve months with alternating lengths of 31 and 30 days.

The exception was February which had 29 days and Leap years gave February 30 days to keep the calendar correct. Much of his knowledge came from the Egyptians.

The senate had the month of Quintilius renamed July after Caesar as an honour to his reform.

 

When Augustus became emperor the senate voted that the month after, then called Sextilus, should be name in his honour and thus it became Augustus.

However the senate did not like the fact that Augustus's month had 30 days and Julius's has 31 so they changed Augustus to 31 days, taking the extra day from February. This threw into disarray the organised way the months changed from 30 and 31 days.

 

Not satisfied, they tinkered more altering the number of days in the months according to what they thought was important and because they did not want three consecutive months with 31 days.

 

Consequently February lost a day (except in leap years) and we were left with the apparently random way the months alternate.

 

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_does_February_have_28_days_while_the_other_months_have_30_or_31#ixzz1FGZ3Nva0

That, my friend, is awesome!

[bighusref]

August is the month of kings.

[Gizmo]

February has only 28 days because those people born in February are so awesomely excellent that it gives the other months a few more days-worth of people to try and catch up.

That they have monumentally failed to do so is no fault of us Februrians.

 

Spot on!