Frazz by Jef Mallett for August 31, 2012

Ummmmm….he never even said “obsolete” What wit’ dat?

Caulfield thinks Frazz should have said “obsolete” instead of “original”.

Not exactly. He’s saying that Frazz’s definition may be original, but is now. obsolete

Right, Randy_B! Caulfield thinks Frazz should have said: “The obsolete definition is the fourth full moon in a quarter.” (Which is what a “blue moon” originally meant.)

Why do certain uninvolved bystanders always assume that every enjoyably intense discussion of meaningless obscure trivia is an “argument” of some sort?

Even worse is when one of said bystanders decides it’s his duty to “break up” he argument and tell the participants to “calm down.”

Not that it ever happens to me…

It’s actually a bit more complicated than that. The blue moon was the THIRD full moon in a SEASON that has a fourth. The second full moon in a month is a misreading of the original as described in the_ Farmers Almanac_..See the Wikipedia “Blue Moon” article for the full story,

It’s actually has a better accuracy rating than the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Now, if I could just remember the name of the book where they gave point-by-point proof…

Also, we are now arguing about whatever is available. That didn’t take long.

Lektio…Yes… and it’s interesting

But I’d bet a quarter that before the forum “day” is out, someone will feel the need to whine, “Why is everybody arguing? Don’t you guys know it’s just a comic strip?”

LOL!

No, the real argument is between me and Cat Hammer! We have two extremely similar, yet distinguishable, points of view, and now the Star Trek Fight Music must play while we thoroughly discuss the matter!

Lektio, I recall it as Wikipedia not being significantly worse than the Britannica, not actually better.

I can’t remember where I read it either, however.

Try checking for “Blue Moon” on the Sky and Telescope website.Yes Frazz, that used to be the definition; but like many terms in the English language, its usage has changed.

Two excellent articles on the use of the phrase “blue moon:”

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/moon/3305141.html

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/moon/3304131.html

The idea that a “blue moon” is a particular sequence of full moons within a given time frame is actually quite recent, not something that derives from old folklore at all.

To get at those long URL’s, just select the whole response and copy/paste it into Notepad or whatever.

Last night’s moon came up behind a pink cloud here in the high sierra, very pretty.

That last panel should be made into a flag to represent the Gocomics commenters.

Wikipedia is frequently incorrect, but not usually in well researched articles that cite all their references so you can check them yourself.

I’m so glad to find like-minded people who like discussing impractical information. (It’s the best kind, since being of different opinions has little consequences. Being wrong about something like, oh, toilet repair would have consequences, and have to be decided on hard facts. But I digress). Found the below at a dictionary, and the other from APOD (written by NASA for the public, though it’s sometimes on a high level.) Basically, there is little agreement and lots of history, so even better for conversation. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/blue+moonhttp://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/29dec_bluemoon/

The blue moon silliness happens every time there’s a pair of full moons in a month. Thank goodness we should get a break for another year or two after this. .@ewaldoh: Indian summer is when it gets warm again after a decent cold snap (involving frost if you’re far enough north.)

Is that a quote? I like it.

According to my source, “blue moon” is a corruption of “Bleu moon”, and refers to the fact that the moon is made of cheese. For most of a given month it’s green cheese, but if it sticks around long enough to be full twice it gets moldy and smelly – Bleu.

What’s my source? Uh, let me get back to you on that…

In the words of Popeye, “Arf, arf, arf, arf!”

The Free Dictionary defines it as 1. a. The third full moon in a three-month calendrical season that has four full moons.b. The second of two full moons occurring in the same month.

Not the fourth full moon of the quarter. Even though that makes more sense.

Boise Ed…

Dunno whether this is what you mean…but…

I keep about 45 strips on my page, and usually read them every night after they update. I post till I really need to sleep (and sometimes later!) and turn off the computer.

Once I’m up and re-booted, I usually let it hibernate most of the day with my comics page open.

When I have time to re-check a forum,I right-click the strip title and select “open in a new window”.

On a lot of strips I only do that if I commented there, or think there might be good jokes or conversations.

It was pretty much the same with Comics.com except I think it was the image, not the title, we clicked.And yes… any way you do it, it’s time-consuming…sigh….

@Randy_BMy apologies for not checking back in time to acrimoniously defend my (obviously superior) interpretation against your (pathetically deficient) reading ;-) I know this won’t make up for my failure, but I hope you, and the others, will accept my promise to try harder on some future comic. Non-Sequitur is often available.