OT: Thanksgivukkah calendar question ...; and WOTSY

[Joel S. Berson]

AM 5774 [Anno Mundi, not Ante Meridiem] began 4
Sept. 2013, according to Wikipedia, "Hebrew
Calendar".  And, Larry, somebody is counting.  I
think the intercalary months, days, hours,
minutes, and seconds will have to be re-ordained
as the earth slows in its orbit.

Perhaps one should give credibility to Wikipedia's, "Thanksgivukkah".  It says

"Thanksgiving Day has fallen during Hanukkah at
least twice between 1863 (when Thanksgiving was
proclaimed a U.S. federal holiday by President
Abraham Lincoln) and 2013: in 1888 Thanksgiving
was the first day of Hanukkah, and in 1899 it was
the fourth day.[12][13] Thanksgiving occurred
later in those two years than is possible under
current U.S. law (as a result of changes between
1939 and 1941); as a result of this confusion,
some media reports have mistakenly claimed that
Thanksgivukkah has never occurred since Thanksgiving's creation."

The 1888 date is presumably the source of Amy's "about 130 years ago".

I don't find this article predicting the next Thanksgivukkah, however.

Amy, the period of 77,798 years sounded odd to me
too -- it seems much longer than other, similar
coincidences.  But given that the current year is
merely 5774, to suppose that what was meant is
"in the (Hebrew) year 77,798" means a very long period also.

My source of the "factoid" is the calendar [pun
intended] of forthcoming events published daily
in the Boston Globe magazine section for Nov. 26, page G2.

There certainly do seem to be factoids.  The
first site I Googled says the coincidence will
never happen
again!   http://glencoe.suntimes.com/news/tha_nkkah-GLN-11282013:article

The next site says "it won’t happen again in our
lifetimes – unless you’re planning to live
another 79,043 or so years. (That’s according to
complicated math, calculating the lunar cycle and
predicting the seasonal calendar adjustments
required by Jewish law.)"  [So perhaps differing
predictions about determinations by rabbinical
courts in the next 75,000 plus years account for
the different future dates.  And will future
Thanksgivukkahs be declared only when there is a
coincidence with the first date of the eight-day holiday?]
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/11/26/4498812/charlotte-rabbis-say-coincidence.html#.UpYTLieMmz4

At least the letter S in my nomination seems stable!

One site already has not the back story but the
forward story:
"<http://thanksgivukkahboston.com/category/the-story-of-thanksgivukkah/>The
Story of
<http://thanksgivukkahboston.com/category/the-story-of-thanksgivukkah/>Thanksgivukkah

Joel

At 11/27/2013 09:49 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>On Nov 27, 2013, at 9:16 AM, Amy West wrote:
>
> > On 11/27/13 12:00 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> >> But to get back on topic:
> >>
> >> 1)  I nominate "Thanksgivukkah" as the Word of the 77,798th Year.
> >
> > So I've seen bandied about the factoid? that Thanksgivukah won't happen
> > again for "79,000" years. Given  that this year is 77,798 in the Jewish
> > calendar
>
>Is that right?  Looks like too many places.  I
>thought it was 5774, but who's counting?
>
>LH
>
> > , I'm wondering if people are misreading/misunderstanding that
> > it will happen again in the year 79,XXX. It last happened about 130
> > years ago. . .
> >
> > ---Amy West
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org