Frazz by Jef Mallett for February 12, 2022

A lot of folks call it “Febyouary” and not a few call it “Febrrry”.

The youngster is one of a vast legion of February describers, most of whose comments have been traced to ancient Anglo-Saxon incantaions and which also are often heard in home workshops and data programming departments when the power blinks.

Or we can just go back to Lunar months.

And which name? The moons have more than one name. For instance, the Sturgeon Moon is also called the Red Moon.

William Least Heat-Moon. A favorite author.

Why would February have colorful names? I like February because it’s symmetrical, except for leap years.

What about the occasional months that have two full moons? BTW, The second one is called a blue moon.

One of my favorite Garfield strips revolves around “February, Monday the thirteenth.” This year we miss it by one day.

it does conveniently start with “F”

Le Guin Moon, Asimov Moon, Heinlein Moon…

Ironically the word February is based on the Roman purification ritual Februa held on the full moon at this time of year in the old lunar Roman calendar. (At least according to Wikipedia.)

A full moon occurs every 28 days, therefore …

February already has a full moon name, the Snow Moon.

The wrinkle in all this is that full moons are an event that occur simultaneously for all earthly folk. Dates, on the other hand, occur from time to time around the globe. Think about how many times the “New Year” is celebrated during a 24 hour span. Your “Snow Moon” could occur in January or March where I live.

Give it up, Mallettt

Sidereal years don’t line up with lunar months. Soon enough your Harvest Moon will be in December.

Around here, February is not the problem, it’s March!

This named moon thing is pure mushrot. The few so-called named moons that aren’t a hodge-podge of half-understood, mistranslated garbles from Native American and other cultures are made up out of thin air as clickbait.

totally ironic that the Moon is in a constant state of mooning us

I went to a parochial elementary school. One of the things the nuns were big on was to keep us from saying “Febyouary”.

none of which are fit for print I am sure.

If you think we have trouble coming up with nicknames for the Moon, imagine if we were living on Jupiter!

A “full moon”… that’s both cheeks, isn’t it?

Let us be fair and take 1 day from each of 2 months with 31 days and add them to February. I suggest July and August. (Mostly because one day was taken from August so that it would not be shorter than July)

He’s right — February can slip between full moons, as the lunar cycle is 29 and a half days long. But what would we call a month that has two? (If February has no full moons, it has to be bookended by two months with two full moons.)