Thirty dayes hath Nouember,
Aprill, Iune and September;
Twentie and eyght hath February alone,
And all the rest thirty and one,
But in the leape you must adde one.
There’s a much easier way to remember. Ball your two hands into fists in front of you and put them together so that you have your knuckles on top, sans thumbs. Start counting from left, knuckles are hills, the gap between them are valleys. Months falling on valleys are shorter. Months falling on hills are always 31 days.
This is how my dad taught me, and when I pointed out that February wasn’t 30 days he looked at me and asked in an almost furious tone “Are you ever going to forget that February has it’s own thing going on?”
Take the last knuckle and valley, assume they are days instead of months, add them together, then subtract the value on February from the usual valley value besides February.
… Yeah, you better remember the quirk of February without mnemonics or your knuckles.
30 days, has September, April, June, and November. All the rest have 31 except for February which has 28, and once in 4 it has 1 more!
… except in 100, when it doesn’t, except again in 400, then it does.
Also from time to time a freak minute with 61 seconds appears out of the blue.
And freak 59 second minutes will have to be done if current trend continues.
Aww yeah, baby. Welcome to the Freak Minute, where every lovin’ moment lasts for 61 sexy seconds. Aww yeah.
Caller number one, you’re on the air…
Here’s a version from the 16th Century
Thirty dayes hath Nouember, Aprill, Iune and September; Twentie and eyght hath February alone, And all the rest thirty and one, But in the leape you must adde one.
Very cute, but unclear where to add the one! Thanks for sharing!
In the leape of course
As someone who’s dyslexic and nearly 40 I will never remember this for as long as I live no matter how many times I’ve heard it.
There’s a much easier way to remember. Ball your two hands into fists in front of you and put them together so that you have your knuckles on top, sans thumbs. Start counting from left, knuckles are hills, the gap between them are valleys. Months falling on valleys are shorter. Months falling on hills are always 31 days.
You have a valley and a knuckle left.
makes sense that Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar gave themselves long months in summer.
This is how my dad taught me, and when I pointed out that February wasn’t 30 days he looked at me and asked in an almost furious tone “Are you ever going to forget that February has it’s own thing going on?”
Nope, not anymore dad, I remember it forever.
Take the last knuckle and valley, assume they are days instead of months, add them together, then subtract the value on February from the usual valley value besides February.
… Yeah, you better remember the quirk of February without mnemonics or your knuckles.
I miss my dad. And your dad.
im over 30 and i still do this
This is the way!
It’s the first time I’ve ever seen it written, though I wrote it myself. I’ve only ever known it verbally because it rhymes!
I just do the knuckles method (you have to remember February, but other than that it’s perfect).
Knuckle bros!
at some point in life I just precomputed the list of length 12 (except the leap year consideration) and memorized it
If the year is divisible by 100 but not by 400 then February has 28 days despite the fact that the year will also be divisible by 4.
Oh yeah. Thanks, Pope Gregory!