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A comment on Someday aliens will land and all will be fine until we explain our calendar. Parent comment

Re:Someday aliens will land and all will be fine until we ex... by cperciva on Sunday September 25, 2022 @04:17PM (#32975640)
February, the last month of the year was shorter because the year isn’t long enough to give it 30 days

Originally February had 30 days, along with all the other months. (The 5 or 6 remaining days at various times were either extra days which didn't belong to a month or were omitted until there was a month's worth of them to catch up on.)

February got shorter because (being the last month of the year) it had days removed in order to add them to other months -- what was originally February 30th (the end of the year) became February 23rd (the end of the year, after which the leap day is inserted).

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Re:Someday aliens will land and all will be fine until we ex... by miniwark on Sunday September 25, 2022 @06:41PM (#32977145)
The Ethiopian calendar still do this, 12 months of 30 days each and a last 5 to 6 "month".

The reddit thread is funny but it also forget than there is not only one calendar in the actual world... Long time ago, i have meet an indian who was never able to explain to me witch days he was forbidden to eat meat (he was not a strict vegetarian), or even food at all. It was probably a mix of one of the indian calendars, horoscope and religion.

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Re:Someday aliens will land and all will be fine until we ex... by cperciva on Sunday September 25, 2022 @09:06PM (#32978215)
My understanding is that the Ethiopian calendar is basically the ancient Egyptian calendar aside from some names changing.
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Re:Someday aliens will land and all will be fine until we ex... by JoeAltmaier on Sunday September 25, 2022 @04:41PM (#32975968)
Augustus and Julius stole a day from February so theirs' would be long ones.
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Re:Someday aliens will land and all will be fine until we ex... by jcranmer on Sunday September 25, 2022 @05:26PM (#32976442)
February had 28 days before Julius Caesar came to power, so he and his successor couldn't have stolen a day from it.
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Re:Someday aliens will land and all will be fine until we ex... by JoeAltmaier on Sunday September 25, 2022 @08:49PM (#32978116)
Wait. The calendar was 10 months before Julius. Not sure there was even a February?
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Re:Someday aliens will land and all will be fine until we ex... by jcranmer on Sunday September 25, 2022 @09:53PM (#32978465)
No, the calendar had 12 months + 1 intercalary month before the Julian reforms. The calendar you're thinking of was the one supposedly introduced by Romulus and replaced by his successor--there's no evidence of its actual use.
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