Take a look at your calendar, where ever it may be. On the fridge next to the pictures of the kids (cute kids, by the way). Next to your phone with the unceasing pile of bills and junkmail (Hey, look Publisher's Clearing House says you may be a winner! Again). In the garage, because your wife doesn't want those ‘tool' calendars in the house. Hanging next to the back door, with the worn-out post-it reminding what day trash pick-up is. The family bulletin board, in the bathroom, in your pocket, on the cell wall... or any other of the hundreds of places calendars can be used. Now look a little closer.

Under or near a nice photo of a lush landscape, infectiously cute puppies or kittens, colorful floras, gleaming muscle cars, the latest kid craze, or scantily clad cheesecake or beefcake, is the month. A grid of squares with dates in them, others with weekdays in them, and most prominently displayed above or below all of this - the name of the month.

Ever stop and wonder where that name came from? For that matter, ever wonder why the whole thing is called a calendar? Me neither, but once I learned the following trivial tidbits, (at the cost of remembering something important) I couldn't wait to share some interesting factoids about an everyday commonplace thing we take for granted.

Like the fact that the word calendar comes from the roman word Kalenderium, the name for the ledger that ancient roman record keepers used to track the phases of the moon. They would start each month on a new moon. 

Or that the original roman calendar had 304 days and only ten months, beginning with March and ending in December. January and February were set aside for festivals. Now with the ten hour day, four day work week catching on, maybe we should re-look at this two months off thing....

Why the months are called what they're called:

• January comes from Janus- the roman god of beginnings and endings. Appropriate.
• February, named after the roman god Februs, (Now for those of us who commonly misspell this month, we know who to blame for the extra ‘r'). Romans celebrated this month with purification festivals called ‘februa'.
• March. After the roman god of war, Mars, Son of Jupiter.
• April comes from the word Aperire, which means to open. This is the month when trees and flowers open. Not to mention a few rain clouds.
• May is named after the roman goddess of honor and reverence - Maiesta (Maia).
• June, after Juno, the roman queen of the gods.
• July is named after Julius Caesar, who was born during this month.
• August, named for Augustus the roman emperor. Originally called Sextilis, for the sixth month of the roman calendar.
• September comes from Septum, meaning seven
• October, from Octo, meaning eight
• November, from Novem, meaning nine.
• December, from Decem, meaning ten.

So, the next time your in front of the calendar display at an office supply store, you can do your best Cliff, the mailman from Cheers, imitation for the complete stranger standing next you and spout some of this fascinating trivial info. Just watch as their eyes widen in amazement, right before they suddenly run off to share it with their friends...