23 Days and Counting

Radio announcers throughout the English-speaking (or, in some cases, English-mangling) world are holding on gamely, eager for the month of February to end and the month of March to begin.

The reason?  They find "February" difficult to pronounce.  It does not roll trippingly off the tongue as, for instance, do Yuryev-Polskly, Zhaozhou, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  "Give us March, for pity's sake," they cry, their fine, trained baritone voices cracking under stress as once again "February" comes out something like "Fooburburry."

Why is February February?  Because it is the traditional month of purification, and the Latin word for purification is februo.

Anglo-Saxons, however, called this month "Sprout-kale," as it is the season when kale and cabbage emerge.  And the Dutch, for obvious reasons, called it "Fill-Dyke."

We can hear announcers everywhere murmuring "Those are good.  I can say 'Sprout-kale' and 'Fill-Dyke'." 

To the French, this was known as "Pluviose"--"rain month."  And that seems most appropriate, if no easier to pronounce.

To our friends the announcers, we say, "Hang in there!  Only five days left!"  And don't think about leap year.