once in a blue moon
the origin of the phrase “once in a blue moon” and what a blue moon actually is.
“Once in a blue moon” today means “very rarely,” though it used to mean something that was absurd, right along the lines of “when pigs fly.”
The first known recorded use of a form of the phrase is in an anti-clerical pamphlet published in 1528 by William Roy and Jeremy Barlowe. In a conversation between two characters, one says, “Yf they say the mone is blewe/We must believe that it is true.” It appears to be a reference to priests at the time making statements and expecting the average person to believe they were true, regardless of how ridiculous the statement was. This is something like the original usage of the “moon is made of green cheese”, in that case referring to the fact that only fools or gullible people would believe that.
As stated, in the early days the definition meant something that was impossible or would never happen; it wasn’t until 1821 with the publication of Real Life in London by Pierce Egan that we see “once in a blue moon” meaning “rarely.” In the book, one character says to another, “How’s Harry and Ben? – haven’t seen you this blue moon.” Since then, the phrase has developed into a fairly common saying.
But what is a blue moon, anyway?
You might have heard that a blue moon is the second full moon in a calendar month. This explanation of blue moons is a relatively modern invention having nothing to do with the original usage of the phrase, mistakenly given in a Sky and Telescope article in 1946. James Hugh Pruett wrote the article, referring to statements given by Laurence LaFleur in a Sky and Telescope column in 1943.
LaFleur had been referencing a 1937 copy of the Maine Farmer’s Almanac, but did not make it clear that the Almanac used a tropical year for its definition rather than a calendar year. Still, Pruett’s definition became the most accepted, probably made even more popular by a well-liked radio show in 1980, which used Pruett’s
“Once in a blue moon” today means “very rarely,” though it used to mean something that was absurd, right along the lines of “when pigs fly.”
The first known recorded use of a form of the phrase is in an anti-clerical pamphlet published in 1528 by William Roy and Jeremy Barlowe. In a conversation between two characters, one says, “Yf they say the mone is blewe/We must believe that it is true.” It appears to be a reference to priests at the time making statements and expecting the average person to believe they were true, regardless of how ridiculous the statement was. This is something like the original usage of the “moon is made of green cheese”, in that case referring to the fact that only fools or gullible people would believe that.
As stated, in the early days the definition meant something that was impossible or would never happen; it wasn’t until 1821 with the publication of Real Life in London by Pierce Egan that we see “once in a blue moon” meaning “rarely.” In the book, one character says to another, “How’s Harry and Ben? – haven’t seen you this blue moon.” Since then, the phrase has developed into a fairly common saying.
But what is a blue moon, anyway?
You might have heard that a blue moon is the second full moon in a calendar month. This explanation of blue moons is a relatively modern invention having nothing to do with the original usage of the phrase, mistakenly given in a Sky and Telescope article in 1946. James Hugh Pruett wrote the article, referring to statements given by Laurence LaFleur in a Sky and Telescope column in 1943.
LaFleur had been referencing a 1937 copy of the Maine Farmer’s Almanac, but did not make it clear that the Almanac used a tropical year for its definition rather than a calendar year. Still, Pruett’s definition became the most accepted, probably made even more popular by a well-liked radio show in 1980, which used Pruett’s