The internet is filled with things. Here is one of them.
The Oddness of February2024 Mar 5
While we went through our annual wondering why February was so short and I was content to settle for half an answer, Conversable Economist Timothy Taylor was not. Read his blog for the full discussion, but the meat I've neatly copy/pasted here, a quote from a quote, originating (I believe) from Dartmouth professor Paul Calter in 1998, from a Geometry course syllabus:
Odd numbers were considered masculine; even numbers feminine because they are weaker than the odd. When divided they have, unlike the odd, nothing in the center. Further, the odds are the master, because odd + even always give odd. And two evens can never produce an odd, while two odds produce an even. Since the birth of a son was considered more fortunate than birth of a daughter, odd numbers became associated with good luck.
While we went through our annual wondering why February was so short and I was content to settle for half an answer, Conversable Economist Timothy Taylor was not. Read his blog for the full discussion, but the meat I've neatly copy/pasted here, a quote from a quote, originating (I believe) from Dartmouth professor Paul Calter in 1998, from a Geometry course syllabus: