Out of the mouths...

Overheard in a supermarket the other day - "Grandad, you know my birthday is in October, right? Well, we learnt today in school that an octopus is called that because it has eight tentacles, and "octo" means eight. Then why is October called that when it's the tenth month?". Good question, and the same could of course be asked of September, November and December (sept = seven, nov = nine and dec = ten). And the answer is that in the old roman calendar (pre-Julius Caesar) the year started on March 1st and there were only ten months. So September really was the seventh month, October the eighth and so on. This calendar was a right mess, and Julius Caesar took it upon himself to sort it all out by, among other things, introducing two new months - January and February, and making the year start on January 1st. But although this new calendar of his had twelve months, he kept the old names - so there you are!