Today is also Persian New Years Day. Which makes a heck of a lot more sense to me than the middle of winter.

“… until the likes of George W. Bush comes along and starts to play out of tune with terms such as “misunderestimate(d)”!

Yeah, but at least GWB can talk for more than 30 seconds without a teleprompter. And he certainly wouldn’t have made that bolwing crack about the Special Olympics. Yep, our new guy is one heck of an orator.

Thanks for the links, man.

@ Todd W.,

It’s “The Fall of Man” business and its religious connotations that gets me started! I mentioned that already last autumn on a similar post by Phil.

@ Cheyenne,

Actually, according to Wikipedia, English is a West Germanic language that was brought to Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers beginning in the 5th century. The language was heavily influenced by the Old Norse language of Viking invaders. After the Norman conquest, Old English developed into Middle English, borrowing heavily from the Norman (Anglo-French) vocabulary and spelling conventions. Modern English developed from there and continues to adopt foreign words, especially from Latin and Greek.

So, the English language is like a symphony of various languages — until the likes of George W. Bush comes along and starts to play out of tune with terms such as “misunderestimate(d)”!

Brits over here are fawned over with that accent. Us over there – yeah, not so much.

What about “Road Construction Season”?

The [i]vernal[/i] equinox is when the sidereal time is equal to the civil time.

That’s important for us telescope pointers.

Otherwise, strange comment thread……
Later this year I envision “Fall Pride Day” which will be vehemently protested by the “Fundamental Autumn Movement”.

Just enjoy the day and beginning season…and get back to work like I should be doing!

And really, since “fall” began its usage in England, we of the U.S. are actually more proper in our choice of term than the Brits.

Well, see, it’s “fall” because that’s the time of year that leaves fall from the trees.

And really, you shouldn’t even be calling it autumn, anyway. Where the British went wrong was in the 16th century when they stopped using the term “harvest” and started using a word from Latin/French:

autumn
c.1374, from O.Fr. autumpne, from L. autumnus, a word probably of Etruscan origin. Harvest was the Eng. name for the season until autumn began to displace it 16c. In Britain, the season is popularly August through October; in U.S., September through November.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper

Furthermore, “fall” has been in use since the 17th century and is a shortened form:

fall (v.)
O.E. feallan (class VII strong verb; past tense feoll, pp. feallen), from P.Gmc. *fallanan (cf. O.N. falla, O.H.G. fallan), from PIE base *phol- “to fall” (cf. Armenian p’ul “downfall,” Lith. puola “to fall,” O.Prus. aupallai “finds,” lit. “falls upon”). Noun sense of “autumn” (now only in U.S.) is 1664, short for fall of the leaf (1545). That of “cascade, waterfall” is from 1579. Most of the figurative senses had developed in M.E. Meaning “to be reduced” (as temperature) is from 1658. To fall in love is attested from 1530; to fall asleep is 1393. Fall guy is from 1906. Fallout “radioactive particles” is from 1950. Fallen “morally ruined” is from 1628.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper

Further, it could be argued that “fall” is used because it is the time of the year that temperatures begin to fall, as well. And I’m sure a religious type could probably cobble together an argument that it was the time of year when Lucifer fell from Heaven. Or that it marks the beginning of the “fall of man” or some such argument. Y’know, the introduction of death and all.

Cheers! Scholl! Kampei!

Start of seasons are start of months where I come from –

ie.

March 1st starts Autumn / Fall,
June 1st starts Winter,
September 1st starts Spring,
December 1st starts Summer

Fortunately all seasons last three months which sur ebeats theseason length on Helliconia!

(Good SF series by Brian Aldiss, ‘Helliconia’ is a fictional planet where seasons last centuries.)

NCC1701, I think in 2012, all eggs will magically flip to their sides and point their blunt ends toward the center of the galaxy. If you see that show up on some woo-woo blog post somewhere, I’ll have started an Internet Meme.

My best friend, who works at a TV station, did an on-air graphic about the equinox with an egg standing on end. This, despite the fact that he knows its a myth. I’m officially ashamed of him.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/barc0de/129363214/in/set-72057594108336573/

And putting the ‘wrongness’ of a particular definition in the same apparent category as the wrongness of egg-standing invites confusion, I think.