While this phrase has a metaphorical usage, it also has a literal placement on the lunar calendar. Unfortunately, the frequency of the blue moon is also up for interpretation.
The earliest documented mentions of “blue moon” — dating to the 16th century — suggested something was impossible because the idea of the orb in the sky being blue was outright absurd. Now the idiom “once in a blue moon” refers to an event that rarely happens, and as of the 20th century, a blue moon on the lunar calendar happens every two to three years.
In an astronomical sense, a more apt term might be “bonus moon,” because the color blue has little to do with it. Today, “blue moon” refers to one of two different lunar events: the third full moon of a season that contains four full moons or the second full moon in a calendar month. We can credit the Farmers’ Almanac for the first interpretation. This folksy guide follows a tropical year calendar, measured from one winter solstice (December 21) to the next. There are almost always 12 full moons per year — three per season. But every once in a while, four full moons occur in a single season. In the 19th century, the Farmers’ Almanac began recognizing a blue moon as the third full moon during a season that had four. Why the third full moon? The last full moons in each season already had designated names, such as June’s Strawberry Moon.
The second definition of “blue moon” — meaning the second full moon in a single month — is the result of an accidental oversimplification of the Farmers’ Almanac rule printed in a 1946 issue of Sky and Telescope magazine. This categorization of “blue moon” is more common. The next monthly blue moon is expected on May 31, 2026. The next seasonal blue moon will happen on August 21, 2032, according to Space.com.
If a (somewhat) rare blue moon isn’t blue in color, though, why is it called as such? This is still a linguistic mystery. One theory proposes a misunderstanding of the Old English word belewe, meaning “betray.” Another suggests someone misheard the French la deux lune, meaning “double moon,” and yet another offers that the second full moon in the month was called “blue” in the Czech language.
The next time someone suggests something happens “once in a blue moon,” you might want to ask them to be more specific about how often that occurs.
Featured image credit: Sergey Nivens/ Shutterstock
Advertisement
More from our network
Word Smarts is part of Inbox Studio, which publishes content that uplifts, informs, and inspires.
Writing tip: Readers are more likely to grasp simpler concepts at the beginning of a sentence. Use the concept of sentence weight to reserve the complex ideas for the end.
Ever wonder why certain sentences just click? Take, for instance, the final line of The Count of Monte Cristo, “Until the day when God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words, — ‘Wait and hope.'” Notice how the emphasis falls on the end of the sentence. This is a prime example of effective sentence weight. Rearranging the line stifles its impact: “All human wisdom is contained in these two words — ‘Wait and hope’ — until the day when God will deign to reveal the future to man.”
To understand sentence weight, imagine your sentence spanning across a seesaw. English speakers instinctively favor the “heaviest” or most complex part of the sentence on the right side, or at the end of the sentence, and simpler, more digestible elements at the beginning. This concept, sometimes called “end-weight,” appeared in Lindley Murray’s 1795 book English Grammar, which served as the template for grade-school grammar lessons for centuries.
Longer or complex phrases (such as prepositional phrases) inherently carry more weight than simpler clauses. Excessive complexity at the start can confuse or disengage the reader. The sentence, “It was thoughtful of Mary to send me a card for my birthday,” sounds better than, “For Mary to send me a card for my birthday was thoughtful.” Linguists have tested pairings of this nature, and the audience always prefers the heavier end-weight structure. The latter feels awkward because the weighty idea comes too early and is distracting.
This is a valuable tool for writers. Consider this line from The Great Gatsby: “In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.” Placing this line on the metaphorical seesaw would undoubtedly cause the right side to plummet to the ground — the end of the sentence is heavy with vivid and complex imagery.
While the “rules” of sentence weight provide guidance, they are by no means rigid. English syntax allows flexibility, and sentence structure can be altered for stylistic effect. When in doubt, consider your seesaw. Weightier ideas typically belong at the end, anchoring the sentence with their emphasis.
Featured image credit: Blaz Photo/ Unsplash
Advertisement
More from our network
Word Smarts is part of Inbox Studio, which publishes content that uplifts, informs, and inspires.
As a celebration of art, history, and culture, Black History Month brings attention to fascinating figures from the past and present. President Gerald Ford officially recognized the month of February as Black History Month in 1976, and it continues to serve as a reminder of the amazing contributions that Black people have made to American culture.
Black authors are especially important to the American literary canon. Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and more are fixtures in any library. And we have a list with some contemporary authors to inspire your reading for Black History Month.
In addition to writing award-winning fiction, James McBride is a trained musician with a special interest in the legacy of James Brown. Here, he traces Brown’s origins and how he ping-ponged around the country, explaining the history of the places he landed. McBride also conducted interviews with people involved in creating the sound, look, and mythos of James Brown for his depiction of a compelling figure.
This funny contemporary romance is perfect for anyone who has disconnected from their path and wants to make a change. Josephine Boateng exists on social media as Dr. Jojo, expert advice giver on love and life. In reality, she’s trying to pursue medicine and get over an unrequited crush on an old friend. When she meets Malcom, an author who needs her advice, an unexpected romance blossoms.
Well-known romance novelist Alyssa Cole genre-hopped to write an impressive thriller. Sydney Green is a Brooklynite whose neighborhood is disappearing around her as she sees houses for sale every day, with the residents supposedly moving out of the city. She teams up with a new neighbor, and they realize that people aren’t simply moving — they’re disappearing without a trace.
Jane is desperate to finish her epic novel and get some stability for herself, her husband, and their two children. While she’s house-sitting for a rich friend in Los Angeles and trying to finish her book, she grows more frustrated with her lot in life. She partners with a Hollywood producer who promises to bring her voice to television and let her realize her true vision. But since it’s Hollywood, appearances are deceiving.
Beauregard “Bug” Montage is not making enough to support his family through his modest mechanic job, and his past as a getaway driver comes back to haunt him when he decides to participate in a diamond heist. It’s supposed to be one-and-done, but it rapidly spins out of control as the criminal life sucks him back in. This is an excellent road trip novel for anyone who likes a propulsive thriller.
The recent movie adaptation of this novel is gaining major critical praise and awards attention. Two boys meet at a reformatory school in Florida in the 1960s. Elwood is an optimist, staunch in his belief that the world will change and ready to take on the challenges of the Civil Rights Movement. His friend Turner has been at the Nickel Academy for years and is the cynical opposite to Elwood. Their friendship defines the rest of their lives.
If you’re looking for a book to read as a family, Jacqueline Woodson has a fantastic catalogue of books for children to young adult readers. The Day You Begin follows Lyra as she learns to speak up and find her place in the world. Though she initially feels too different, Lyra learns that she can make connections with other kids over small things.
It’s time for some myth-busting: The “C” in “vitamin C” does not stand for “citrus,” though the nutrient is famously abundant in citrus fruits. Science began exploring the unique capabilities of vitamins around 100 years ago, and named the essential compounds by highlighting their attributes and order of discovery.
In 1920, Polish biochemist Casimir Funk coined the term “vitamin,” derived from the Latin word for life (vita) and “amine,” a nitrogen-rich compound. Before this coinage, in the 1890s, a compound was identified that prevented beriberi, a disease that commonly afflicted sailors. Due to this usage, it was eventually named vitamin B. Next up in 1918, vitamin A was identified as “fat-soluble A” by nutrition scientist Elmer McCullum. While conducting food experiments, he found an “accessory” substance in some fats, choosing “A” as its epithet. The name was changed to “vitamin A” in 1920 with the coining of Funk’s “vitamin.” Vitamins A and B established an alphabetic naming convention with
Advertisement
vitamins C, D, and E following suit alphabetically and in order of discovery. In 1929, Danish scientist Carl Peter Henrik Dam identified a new compound that, if the standard were followed, should have been named “vitamin F.” However, Dam chose “vitamin K” in reference to the Danish word blodkoagulation (blood coagulation), emphasizing the vitamin’s role in this process.
Later, researchers identified various forms of vitamins within the letter categorizations. They identified and numbered them during the next few decades, beginning with the earliest discovery, vitamin B1, or thiamine, named after the Greek word for sulfur, theion. By the 1930s and 1940s, 13 essential vitamins — A, C, D, E, K, and the eight B vitamins — had been identified and named. This includes vitamin B7 or biotin, which comes from the Greek biotos, meaning “life,” and vitamin B9 or folic acid, which derives from the Latin folium, meaning “a leaf,” a nod to its abundance in green, leafy vegetables.
While the names of vitamins might seem overwhelming or even arbitrary when you’re staring at the rows of numbers and letters at the drugstore, each was carefully selected to represent its order of discovery or reflect its unique properties. It’s more than just a letter; a vitamin’s name reflects its history.
Featured image credit: Nataliya Vaitkevich/ Pexels
Advertisement
More from our network
Word Smarts is part of Inbox Studio, which publishes content that uplifts, informs, and inspires.
“The first duty of society is justice,” Alexander Hamilton once said. The famed statesman could have chosen the word “fairness” instead of “justice,” but that phrasing carries less authority. This divergence between two seemingly synonymous terms can be traced to their ancient origins to reveal their key differences.
“Just” derives from the Latiniustus (see our exploration of how the letter “i” turned into the letter “j“), meaning “lawful” or “rightful.” The adjective use (different from the adverb usage) has been used in this context since the Roman Empire. “Fair,” on the other hand, traces back to the Old Englishfæger, meaning “beautiful” or “pleasant,” and it eventually broadened to also mean “good” or “advantageous.” By the 13th century, the metaphorical usage of “equitable” emerged — and this is what formed the bridge between the two concepts.
Advertisement
Today, “just” is firmly tied to legal jargon. “No idea in Western civilization has been more consistently linked to ethics and morality than the idea of justice,” experts from the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clarita University wrote in a 2018 article. We use the adjective “just” when trying to describe what is lawful or grounded in objective principles, typically in alignment with some established legal or ethical code.
“Fair,” as an adjective, is used in a relative sense, but still usually in the context of a guiding principle. The familiar adage “fair and square” emphasizes core ideas of fairness: equality and balance. While both terms touch on concepts of moral integrity, “fair” is more flexible and considers context based on all parties’ needs and circumstances.
Consider their usage in a recognizable setting: You’re driving in an unfamiliar city, and you turn right on a red light. This is against local laws, and you receive a citation. Receiving a traffic ticket is a “just” consequence because the action was against the law, but it may not seem “fair” because the rule breaking was unintentional. Similarly, in a dreaded group project scenario, it might not be “fair” for every member to receive the same grade, but it is “just” if the grading guidelines are made clear at the outset of the project. Ultimately, which word you choose is up to you, but they aren’t always synonymous. The distinct nuances of these terms can shape how we evaluate situations and make decisions, from the courtroom to the classroom.
Featured image credit: Chalirmpoj Pimpisarn/ iStock
Advertisement
More from our network
Word Smarts is part of Inbox Studio, which publishes content that uplifts, informs, and inspires.
Unless you have a trail of pet ducklings to lead to the lake, or you’re a French chef prepping for a busy dinner service, you probably won’t have many opportunities to literally “get your ducks in a row.” This figurative phrase dates to the 19th century and is most likely of North American origin. Why it became so popular is the biggest question, and one with an uncertain answer.
What we do know is that the idiom “getting your ducks in a row” means preparing for an anticipated event. This could include laying out your clothes the night before starting a new job, prepping the snacks and beverages before hosting a big house party, or scheduling a taxi to the airport. Essentially, lining up your figurative ducks means minimizing the risk of future complications when it’s time to act.
The etymological origins of these ducks are murky. One of the earliest examples of the phrase is from the November 15, 1889, edition of The Plaindealer newspaper in Detroit, Michigan: “In the meantime the Democrats are getting their ducks in a row, and their ticket is promised to be very strong.” Here, the expression is used plainly as if it would be widely understood, but it lacks an explanation.
Perhaps it was expected to be understood because duck hunting (and lining up the bounty of the hunt) was a popular practice at that time. Another theory ties it to the classic duck-shooting carnival game; however, the game’s origins are unclear, making it difficult to know if it predated the phrase. Others attribute the idiom to duckpin bowling, in which players line up ducks (pins) to knock them down with the ball. But that game didn’t become popular until the early 20th century, years after the phrase was used in that 1889 newspaper.
While there are theories behind this curious turn of phrase, the origin may remain a largely unanswered question. We assure you that no ducks were harmed in the making of this article.
Featured image credit: enviromantic/ iStock
Advertisement
More from our network
Word Smarts is part of Inbox Studio, which publishes content that uplifts, informs, and inspires.
From outdated relationship advice to modern-day “Text Me” messages, discover how conversation hearts have been speaking love’s language for over 100 years.
On Valentine’s Day, you can show your love through a dozen red roses, a heart-shaped box of chocolates, or a love letter, but why not make your gesture a little sweeter with a box of Sweethearts conversation hearts? These classic treats are the only ones to state right on the candy how much you adore that special person in your life, sharing simple messages such as “Kiss Me” and “Be Mine” with your valentine. These heart-shaped confections originated in the mid-19th century, so let’s take a look back at the history of one of the most popular ways to share a Valentine’s Day message.
The Early History
In 1847, a pharmacist named Oliver R. Chase invented a machine to make cutting lozenges more efficient. The clove- and cinnamon-flavored treats that contained tons of sugar to mask the taste of medicine were a big hit. Eventually, the pharmacist cut out any medicine and started Chase and Company with his brothers to sell candy only.
The Chases conceived of new ways to market their products, including hand-printing messages on each lozenge (drawing inspiration from a British candy called “cockles,” which contained paper sayings tucked inside each one). In 1866, Daniel Chase developed a machine that made the printing process more efficient, using a felt roller pad and some vegetable dye to imprint messages on the candy. Around 1901, Chase and Company merged with several other candy companies to create the New England Confectionary Company — or Necco, as it was known throughout the 20th century until its bankruptcy in 2018.
Advertisement
The Debut of Conversation Hearts
The messages were initially printed onto candies of various shapes, such as a scallop shell, a baseball, and a horseshoe. In 1902, the iconic heart-shaped variety made its debut. The earliest hearts were larger than the dime-size ones available today, with plenty of space for relationship advice. Examples of these early hearts read: “Married in White, you have chosen right” and “Married in Pink, he’ll take to drink.” That type of advice disappeared as the hearts shrank in size, but shorter phrases from that era are still around today, including “Be Mine” and “Kiss Me.”
Changes Over Time
In a 2011 interview with TIME magazine, Necco marketing director Aimee Scott talked about how the company tried to incorporate a novel candy heart theme every year, adding in new phrases and carrying over some old ones. Scott claimed they “keep about 30 to 35 of the older ones” and “try to have about 20 new sayings,” which was largely dependent on popular flirtatious terminology at any given time.
Some past themes include weather (e.g., “Chill Out,” “Cloud 9”), technology (“Tweet Me” or “Text Me”), and also Spanish varieties (“Te Amo”). Some older candy hearts are clear relics of decades gone by, including groovy phrases from the 1970s and 1980s, such as “Dig Me” and “Hep Cat.” “Fax Me” notably debuted in the 1990s, though the candy heart phrase hasn’t appeared in recent years.
While Necco declared bankruptcy in 2018, Spangler Candy acquired the company and began to produce candy hearts again in 2020. The treat almost immediately reclaimed its market share as the most popular non-chocolate Valentine’s Day sweet. Continuing the Necco tradition of evolving on a theme, you can take your situationship one step further with Sweethearts “commitment” hearts, featuring messages such as “Marry Me” and “4EVER EVER?”
Featured image credit: The Desk Images/ Shutterstock
Advertisement
More from our network
Word Smarts is part of Inbox Studio, which publishes content that uplifts, informs, and inspires.
If you’re sending a Valentine, do you know what you’re saying with your X’s and O’s? These letters likely developed out of a far-from-romantic origin story.
Nothing beats giving a big bear hug and a sloppy smooch to your sweetheart, but if you’re facing a long-distance romance, it’s more challenging to convey your affection. Ending a love letter with “XOXO” means “kisses and hugs,” but you might be wondering why we use those letters, instead of “KHKH.”
Before the “X” stood for kisses, it was a representation of identity. In medieval times, much of the population couldn’t read or write their name. If someone couldn’t sign their name, it was common to sign important documents with an “X” or a similarly shaped cross symbol. The majority of English speakers were devout Christians who believed that “X” represented the sign of the cross and Christ. Signing a document with “X” implied a sense of sincerity and fidelity.
How “X” came to develop an explicitly romantic connotation is less clear, though there are many theories. Marcel Danesi — author of The History of the Kiss!— suggests that the transition may have been an act of secular rebellion among those who used it to say, “You can’t tell me who I should marry.” Researcher Stephen Goranson suggests that it’s simpler, and that the “X” likely meant “blessings,” which in time evolved to “kiss.” It also may have to do with the letter’s shape, as some think “X” looks like puckered lips.
There are even fewer concrete ties linking “O” to “hugs,” though we can elaborate a little. Dictionary.com suggests a possibility that the first people to use “O” in contrast to “X” may have been illiterate Jewish immigrants to the United States, who signed documents with an “O” to differentiate from the Christian “X.” So while “X” evolved to mean “kiss,” “O” might have evolved in tandem to mean “hug,” given that aforementioned connection. Another theory relates to the shape of the letter, as “O” looks like a pair of encircled arms.
While there’s no 100% verified backstory, using “XOXO” as an affectionate message meaning “kisses and hugs” became popular by the 1960s. It’s mainly an Americanism, as over in England you’re far more likely to see “XX, or double kisses, as a romantic sign-off.
Featured image credit: daphne.t/ Shutterstock
Advertisement
More from our network
Word Smarts is part of Inbox Studio, which publishes content that uplifts, informs, and inspires.
Life in the Middle Ages was far from glamorous. For instance, it was common for a medieval England household to share the home with livestock, and leeches were a regular medical treatment. Humble holiday feasts often featured a main course of pheasant, which was hunted, not purchased at a grocery store like a Thanksgiving turkey is today. It’s from the hunting traditions of medieval England that we get one of the most enduring English idioms for linguistic evasion: “beating around the bush.”
You might have used this expression as a colorful way to tell someone to stop dodging the central issue. For example, if a co-worker offers only insignificant details about a meeting, you might say, “Quit beating around the bush! Tell me what they decided.” The phrase implies stalling or deliberately avoiding something, whether out of reluctance, fear, or even excitement.
Now a mainstay in modern metaphor, this idiom once referred to a literal activity in 15th-century England. Hunters would carefully “beat” bushes with long sticks, coaxing small animals out of hiding without frightening them. It required a delicate balance because harshly thrashing the bushes would send the game scattering, but gently agitating the perimeter would drive the animals into nets or traps. The practice of “beating the bushes” was integral to medieval hunting and trapping.
Over time, the phrase naturally transformed into a metaphorical expression for conversational evasion. Just as medieval hunters once skirted around bushes with sticks, modern raconteurs now dodge direct answers — sometimes receiving a playful nudge to “get to the point” from this idiom.
Featured image credit: ArtistGNDphotography/ iStock
Advertisement
More from our network
Word Smarts is part of Inbox Studio, which publishes content that uplifts, informs, and inspires.
Whether scrawled on ancient papyrus or composed in a quick text message, love letters have remained powerful expressions of affection and devotion across the centuries.
Handwritten letters are a long-cherished way to express one of the most profound human emotions: love. As seen in the hurried scribbles of soldiers on the front lines or the turmoil of unrequited love, these letters capture the essence of a universal language. While today’s romantic exchanges might take the form of acronyms and emojis, the sentiment remains the same, hearkening back to the very first love letters, crafted thousands of years ago.
The Earliest Love Letters
Today, everyone is just a few clicks away, but communication throughout history has been much more complicated. For centuries, letters were the only way to bridge distances, and as such, people fell in and out of love through these lines.
The history of love letters traces back to the Bhagavata-purana, a 10th-century sacred Hindu text. In one story, Princess Rukmini writes a love letter to Lord Krishna, proclaiming her unwavering affection. Declarations of love through writing were common in other ancient empires, too. In Egypt, love songs from the Ramesside period (13th to 12th centuries BCE) survive on rolls of papyrus, chronicling firsthand accounts of the trials and tribulations of love.
In ancient Rome, Cicero, one of the empire’s most prolific writers, put his pen to love letters. To his third wife, Calpurnia, he wrote:
“Yet this only makes me feel your absence the more keenly, for if your letters have such a charm for me, you can imagine how sweet I find your conversation. However, do not fail to write as often as you can, even though your letters torture as well as delight me. Farewell.”
Famous Declarations of Adoration
Tales of romance are among the most enduring in history, proving that even the most powerful and famous individuals are not immune to the vulnerability of love. Take, for instance, Napoleon Bonaparte, the military leader who conquered much of Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Historians estimate that Napoleon wrote over 250 love letters to his wife Joséphine. These letters convey not only his affection but also his grandiose nature. In March 1796, he wrote: “I thought that I loved you months ago, but since my separation from you I feel that I love you a thousand fold more. Each day since I knew you, have I adored you yet more and more.”
Though better known for composing symphonies and sonatas, Beethoven poured his heart into a letter to the so-called “Immortal Beloved.” The recipient’s true identity remains a mystery, but the letter, which Beethoven kept with him until his death, is proof of a romance that likely never came to fruition. A famous excerpt from the 1812 letter reads: “Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, Be calm–love me–today–yesterday–what tearful longings for you–you–you–my life–my all–farewell. Oh continue to love me–never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.” He signed off with the words “Ever thine. Ever mine. Ever ours.”
Years later, the literary love affair of authors Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West produced some of the most beautifully written letters of the 20th century. Despite hiding their romance under the guise of friendship, the women’s correspondence reveals a deep emotional connection. In 1927, Vita wrote, “I am reduced to a thing that wants Virginia. I composed a beautiful letter to you in the sleepless nightmare hours of the night, and it has all gone: I just miss you, in a quite simple desperate human way.”
Advertisement
New Traditions Emerge
Victorian-era love letters were essential to courtship in America and Great Britain, and etiquette manuals provided advice on crafting the perfect letter. It needed to be as eloquent as it was appropriate — one couldn’t be too forward. In a time when courting couples were not permitted private meetings until marriage, exchanging love letters was perceived as an intimate act, akin to holding a hand or sharing a kiss.
This tradition found new prominence during World War I, when young couples relied on love letters to maintain relationships as they were separated by thousands of miles and the experience of war. The romantic tradition persisted during World War II, as demonstrated by President George H. W. Bush’s 1943 letter to his then-fiancée, Barbara:
“This should be a very easy letter to write — words should come easily and in short it should be simple for me to tell you how desperately happy I was to open the paper and see the announcement of our engagement, but somehow I can’t possibly say all in a letter I should like to.”
Today’s love letters undoubtedly sound worlds apart from their predecessors — one look at their salutations provides evidence. Translating an early Middle Ages letter into modern English gives us: “To my sweetest and dearest in everything, my honey-sweet girlfriend [insert name here]…” Today, a succinct “Hey, babe” via text message is far more likely.
It seems that over-the-top written expressions of affection have disappeared in the face of social media feeds and online status updates. Flowery prose has been sacrificed to keep up with our fast-paced lives. But just because the pomp and circumstance of pen and paper have faded doesn’t mean modern love letters have to lack intention. Instead of graceful penmanship, consider your carefully selected heart emojis. The human desire to connect is timeless, and digital communication can say just as much as parchment letters that have crossed the ocean.
Featured image credit: Annie Spratt/ Unsplash
Advertisement
More from our network
Word Smarts is part of Inbox Studio, which publishes content that uplifts, informs, and inspires.
Enter your email to receive daily lessons that dive into what makes English so fascinating. Each email is packed with odd rules, etymologies, and the tools you need to be a better communicator.
Sorry, your email address is not valid. Please try again.
Sorry, your email address is not valid. Please try again.
