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janet paterson wrote: > Magazine corrects erroneous definition of 'blue moon' 53 years later > > BOSTON (March 31, 1999 3:43 p.m. EST http://www.nandotimes.com) - Once in a > blue moon, a widely accepted definition has to be rewritten. Take the term > "blue moon" itself. > > For half a century, it's been known as the second full moon in a month, > like the one that appeared Wednesday. But that's wrong, and the editors of > Sky & Telescope say it's their fault: The magazine incorrectly defined the > term 53 years ago. > > "I hate to admit it," said Roger Sinnott, associate editor of Sky & > Telescope, who blamed the goof on an amateur astronomer. > > James Hugh Pruett wrote a 1946 piece for the magazine after apparently > misinterpreting a complex 1937 article in the Maine Farmer's Almanac that > essentially, but not clearly, said a blue moon occurs when a season has > four full moons, rather than the usual three. Pruett mistakenly thought > that meant a blue moon is the second full moon within the same month. > > Pruett's mistake went unnoticed for decades. A 1980 National Public Radio > story about blue moons used the wrong definition. In 1986, the board game > Trivial Pursuit repeated the error. When two full moons appeared in May > 1988, "radio stations and newspapers everywhere carried an item on this bit > of 'old folklore,'" folklorist Philip Hiscock wrote in the magazine's March > issue. > > Sky & Telescope, based in Cambridge, discovered the error when it was > working on an article about how January and March of this year featured > what would have been two blue moons by Pruett's definition. > > Although Sky & Telescope's editors think Pruett's mistake led to the > popular modern mis-definition of "blue moon," it's unclear where the Maine > Farmer's Almanac came up with the rule. The almanac is defunct. > > Although the term "blue moon" has existed for centuries, Sinnott said his > research of almanacs dating to the early 1800s found no precise definitions > until 1937. > > By either definition - Pruett's or the almanac's - blue moons occur about > every two or three years, Sinnott said. The last blue moon as defined by > the almanac was in June 1997. The next will be in February 2000. > > Although purists may subscribe to the almanac's point of view, Sinnott > thinks Pruett's error will prevail. Pruett died in 1955. > > "This meaning is so entrenched now. Nothing we can do is going to put the > genie back in the bottle," Sinnott said. "Our big mistake in 1946 has > really caught on and there's no turning back." > > By TOM KIRCHOFER > Copyright 1999 Nando Media > Copyright 1999 Associated Press > http://www.nandotimes.com/noframes/story/0,2107,33492-53900-399710-0,00.html > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > janet paterson - 52 now /41 dx /37 onset - almonte/ontario/canada > <http://www.newcountry.nu/pd/members/janet/index.htm> > [log in to unmask]