Yikes! We let April 15 slip right by us! We hope you didn’t, else the taxman will be coming for you!
And we’ve already done the month of April, so we’re thinking we may move on to the next one. May we?
As is usual with these timely monthly investigations, this one will focus on a series of silly, irrelevant associations. To wit:
May Day — This isn’t anything widely celebrated today in this country, but it’s traditionally big in foreign places. It starts off summer (sort of) with a bang on the first day of the month. But it’s not as much fun as you may think. Something about walking around a pole.
May Day — A somewhat different observance declared by the Marxist International Socialist Congress in Paris in 1889. It used to be big in the Soviet Union, and still is in some places, although not here in the good ol’ U.S. of A., because we ain’t commies. Or at least, most of us ain’t. Except maybe at the beginning of September, when we have a long weekend off and go take advantage of huge savings. Up the workers, and all that.
Mayday, mayday, mayday! — Something you say into your radio if your aircraft is experiencing a dire emergency — or when you’ve just had enough of us playing around with the combination of “may” and “day.”
The Merry Month of May — You’ve heard the phrase, but did you know that it’s the title of a poem by Thomas Dekker, an English Elizabethan dramatist and pamphleteer who lived from 1572 to 1632? Well, now you do. That was a period in which lots of memorable phrases were added to the language, and not all of them were written by William Shakespeare.
Mother, May I? — You may know it as a children’s game, but we bring it up here to remind you that that’s what you should say, as opposed to “Mother, can I?” To which she is justified in saying, “I dunno. Can you?” Well, maybe she wouldn’t say that, but your Dad would.
May, rather than will — We used it that way in the second paragraph above. It’s a synonym of “might.” An English major might tell you it’s an “English modal auxiliary verb,” not that you’d want to know.
mayflower — This is a low, spreading shrub in the family Ericaceae. Here’s a picture.
Mayflower — The name of a very famous ship, on which proud WASPS will tell you their ancestors came over. But most of us don’t think about this ship much until November.
May, or Mae — A girl’s name. To illustrate this point, we chose a picture (see it above) of Mae Mordabito from “A League of Their Own.” Because baseball, which is finally here now!
Memorial Day — The Romans had loads of festivals at this time of year, according to Wikipedia: “Under the calendar of ancient Rome, the festival of Bona Dea fell on May 1, Argei fell on May 14 or May 15, Agonalia fell on May 21, and Ambarvalia on May 29. Floralia was held April 27 during the Republican era, or April 28 on the Julian calendar, and lasted until May 3. Lemuria (festival) fell on 9,11, and 13 May under the Julian calendar.” The list goes on, but we don’t want to bore you. Meanwhile, all we have is one generally-celebrated holiday, and we have to wait to the very end to get to it. But it’s a good one. Not only is it right and proper to pause to honor those who have rendered the ultimate sacrifice to our country, but after that… it’s summer!
Seven Days in May — This list would be incomplete without a reference to a classic motion picture. Kirk Douglas! Burt Lancaster! Ava Gardner! It’s a thriller that depicts something that hasn’t happened (yet) in this country, but happened the very year the movie came out, down in Brazil. It’s pretty good. You might associate it with another “what if” thriller from that year, “Fail Safe.” That one had Henry Fonda. If you’d like, you can watch it right now for free (with ads) on tubi.
Comments are closed.