weird and wacky holidays happening in May

May 31 is Speak in Complete Sentences Day

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speak in complete sentences dayToday is Speak in Complete Sentences Day. Celebrating this holiday may prove more difficult than you’d think.

The advent of text and email messages has led to an economy of words and a profusion of symbols, acronyms, and slang. Sentence structure has been sacrificed on the altar of expediency. Emojis and acronyms are quick, convenient ways to express feeling or intent. Anyone who has hesitated before posting a status update, worried readers might misconstrue its tone, then added a winking face or “lol” can attest to the value of this form of shorthand.

Spell-checking programs, if used at all, may lull writers into a false sense of security. Has the casual disdain for grammar and spelling found on forums, blogs, and comment sections trickled up to professional sites, which are now riddled with mistakes? (Have you ever been a good citizen and let someone know about an error, only to hear crickets or get “yeah, who cares” in reply?)

No matter its genesis, carelessness erodes our language skills each day we grow more accustomed and inured to it. Today, honor your mother tongue by uttering and writing complete sentences. It could become a trend!

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May 30 is Water a Flower Day

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Today is Water a Flower Day. We don’t know who started this day of observance, but we hope you won’t play favorites and will show all your plants some love.

Dictionary.com defines a flower as:

water a flower day1. the blossom of a plant

2. Botany.

a. the part of a seed plant comprising the reproductive organs and their envelopes if any, especially when such envelopes are more or less conspicuous in form and color.

b. an analogous reproductive structure in other plants, as the mosses.

3. a plant, considered with reference to its blossom or cultivated for its floral beauty.

Pollen, when transferred between a flower’s male anther and female stigma, carries the genetic information necessary to create a new plant. Some flowers can pollinate themselves while others rely on cross-pollination by wind, insects, or birds. The process produces seeds only when pollen moves between flowers of the same species.

Do your part to help Mother Nature today. If you need some inspiration, visit the Geißkannen Museum in Geissen, Germany, which is devoted entirely to its collection of more than 1,000 watering cans. It is always working to expand the exhibit. Its website asks, “Would you like to donate a watering can and thus enrich our collection to another individual, horticultural aids for targeted artificial irrigation?” (Thank you to Google for that poetic translation.)

Happy Water a Flower Day!

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May 29 is Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day

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put a pillow on your fridge dayToday is Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day, a new take on an old tradition.

Although we can find no origin for the practice, legend has it that at the turn of the 20th century, people in Europe and the U.S. placed a piece of cloth in their larders, cool spaces where they stored food before the advent of modern refrigeration.

Typically, the cloth was taken from a blanket, sheet, or nightgown in the superstitious belief that it would bring good fortune, bountiful food, and abundant fertility to the household.

Larders were phased out as refrigerators became widely available.  General Electric’s popular Monitor-Top refrigerator, introduced in 1927, doomed the larder and the tradition as well.

In 2013, the practice was resurrected, with a twist. A pillow and refrigerator replaced the cloth and larder. (To be precise, the pillow would go inside the fridge, but that’s a minor quibble.)

Social media has helped raise awareness of the holiday. Today, you can tweet your support of #PutAPillowOnYourFridgeDay, buy a PAPOYFD pillow to put on your fridge (so meta) and upload photos of your pillow-topped fridges on the PAPOYFD Facebook page. The Facebook page hasn’t been updated since 2021, but you can still post photos in its Mentions section.

Help us bring the page back! It’s the perfect way to celebrate Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day!

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May 27 is National Grape Popsicle Day

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grape popsicle dayToday is National Grape Popsicle Day. In 1905, 11-year-old Frank Epperson was sitting on his porch, stirring powdered drink mix into water, when he was called inside and forgot to bring the cup with him.

His hometown of San Francisco, CA, was hit with record-low temperatures that night. When Epperson ventured outside the next morning, he discovered that the drink had frozen to the stick, creating a tasty ice pop.

In 1923, Epperson began to sell the treat he called “a frozen drink on a stick” at Neptune Beach Amusement Park in Alameda, CA. Children loved them, and parents were happy that the stick helped prevent messes and gooey hands.

In 1924, Epperson applied for and was granted a patent for the frozen confectionery, which he called the “Epsicle.” His children called it “Pop’s sicle, ” which inspired him to change the name to “Popsicle.”

Not long afterward, Epperson sold the patent to pay debts and regretfully missed out on the financial success of his creation. “I was flat and had to liquidate all my assets,” he later said. “I haven’t been the same since.”

We’re not sure why this holiday occurs on May 27th, a date that doesn’t correspond to Epperson’s birthday or the day the patent was filed or granted. Nor can we explain why today is devoted to the grape variety alone. (Of more than two billion Popsicles sold each year, cherry is the most popular flavor.) We did uncover an interesting fact:

Do you remember the Popsicle with two sticks? It was introduced during the Great Depression so two children could split it for 5¢, the same price as a single stick. It was discontinued in 1987 because parents complained it was hard to break and too messy for one child to eat without dripping.

All this time, we’ve been thinking it was just out of stock….

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