You realize, of course, that today’s date is actually a complete sentence? A command, to be precise.
“March Forth!”
It still amazes me that I was well out of college before I realized that this date was actually grammatically correct–the only one of the year. My sister calls it “Parade Day.” I used to call it “Sentence Day,” but people always looked at me funny, so I stopped saying that. But still, every year on this date, I smile quietly to myself (and with you), secure in the knowledge that this is, at least, something special.
You could make an argument for using “March first!” as a command, but I feel that that’s cheating. If you’re simply using the number to denote the order in which you’re directing the person to March, you can basically go the entire month: “March first, march second, third, fourth….” For today, however, “forth” works as a homonym for a word with an entirely different meaning, denoting direction, not sequence.
(And, didn’t that all sound very erudite and educated and smart and all that??)
I enjoy all these little, interesting trivia things, don’t you? Like, for example, the word “trivia”–comes from ancient Rome when, whenever three or more roads met, signposts would be put up with information as to where each one went . . . Tri-Via . . . three roads . . . little bits of information . . .
My granny was born on March 4 (1900), and she was the first to tell me her birthdate was a sentence. She’s been dead 12 years now, but I always remember her on this day. I love that your sister calls it “Parade Day.” It needs a special name.
It works verbally, but not visually. And I don’t ever remember noticing it before. Stay well. I continue to read regularly.
@Ginny–good for your grandmother! I was in my late 20s before the sentence thing clicked for me. Of course, it wasn’t my birthday, so I didn’t think about the date all that often (grin). And, wow, she had a nice, long life, didn’t she? That’s fabulous. My grandmother’s birthday was March 11th, but she died when I was nine.
@Gillian–well, you can pretty much say that for any homonym-driven sentence. They don’t work visually because visually they’re wrought with misspellings. In that case, it’s the ear that matters.
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Thanks for this post. I never noticed this about March 4, but I love it.
I’m also linking.
Lisa, The Correspondent’s last blog post..Sentence Day -or- Parade Day
Wow, I never noticed that. 🙂
Thank you for sharing. Too bad that at the time I’m reading this it’s already the 5th so I couldn’t celebrate it properly (not that I have any idea what properly might be in this context 😛 )
A Happy (belated) Sentence Day! 🙂
I would think a walk would be adequate celebration, but unfortunately, it rained here yesterday, so my dog was disappointed!
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Certain members of my family, certainly not all, have been celebrating Sentence Day for at least 50 years. When I worked as a high school math teacher, I would always make a big deal of it with my students, along with Pi Day – 3/14. I still get messages from some of my former students on this day. My wife and I used to make Sentence Day greeting cards. I can remember a piece of band music, a march of course, with the name FOURTH MARCH. Once we diagramed the sentence. Does anyone else remember diagramming sentences?
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