{"id":8993,"date":"2008-02-29T11:30:46","date_gmt":"2008-02-29T16:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2008\/02\/29\/its-leap-day-ladies-make-me-an-off"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:53:31","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:53:31","slug":"its-leap-day-ladies-make-me-an-offer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2008\/02\/29\/its-leap-day-ladies-make-me-an-offer\/","title":{"rendered":"it&#8217;s Leap Day: ladies, make me an offer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/files\/2006\/08\/froglegs.gif\" alt=\"froglegs\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/> It&#8217;s February 29, 2008. What does this &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Leap_Day\">Leap Day<\/a>&#8221; mean to you? For conservationists and amphibian-lovers, it&#8217;s the launch date for the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wcs.org\/yearofthefrog\/wcs_yearofthefrog\">Year of the Frog<\/a>, a reminder that, since 1980, &#8220;at least 120 species of frogs, toads, salamanders and other amphibians have gone extinct; as many as half of the 6,000 remaining species may soon vanish unless immediate action is taken. &#8221; (see &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.newswise.com\/articles\/view\/538176\/\">Leap Day: Doomesday Vault for Frogs<\/a>&#8220;)<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>Leap Day &#8212;<br \/>\nthe space where<br \/>\na frog was<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;. by <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/laryalee-fraser-archive\/\"><font color=\"#a0522d\" face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">laryalee fraser<\/font><\/a><br \/>\n&#8211; borrowed, as amended, from this <a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldhaiku.net\/haiga_contest\/27th\/laryalee_fraser.html\">haiga<\/a> &#8211;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>For loophole-loving lawyers over the centuries, it&#8217;s &#8220;not a real day and had no status in English law&#8221; (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/articles\/2004\/02\/28\/1077677015083.html\"><em>Sydney Morning Herald<\/em>,<\/a> Feb. 28, 2004) &#8212; fertile ground indeed for the creative defense lawyer or crafty draftsman.<\/li>\n<li>For math and astronomy wonks, it&#8217;s an opportunity <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mystro.com\/leap.htm#Sadie%20Hawkins%20Day\">to explain<\/a> again <em>ad nauseum<\/em> that &#8220;our solar year is 365.24219 days,&#8221; with all the resultant need for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bartleby.com\/61\/21\/I0182100.html\">intercalary<\/a> machinations and refinements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>For the Chamber of Commerce of Anthony, Texas, it&#8217;s a chance to attract a crowd of Leap Year Babies (&#8220;leapings&#8221;) to their &#8220;6th Worldwide Leap Year Festival,&#8221; at the self-proclaimed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.leapyearcapital.com\/\">Leap Year Capital of the World<\/a>. [And see, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailygazette.com\/news\/2008\/feb\/29\/0229_leap\/\">&#8220;Local \u201829ers\u2019 celebrate rare leap year birthdays<\/a>,&#8221; Schenectady <em>Daily Gazette<\/em>, Feb. 29, 2008]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/files\/2006\/08\/frogpondF.gif\" alt=\"frogpondF\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/> More to the point, for lonely ladies (or their <a href=\"http:\/\/deniskitchen.com\/Merchant2\/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&amp;Category_Code=bios.sadiehawkins\">impatient fathers<\/a>) tired of waiting on that prince or other &#8220;<em>fellas-ta-come-a-courtin,<\/em>&#8221; and for their selective-but-traditionalist sisters impatient for Mr. Right to do the asking, &#8220;<a href=\"www.thedailygreen.com\/green-homes\/blogs\/nontoxic\/leap-day-lovers-460226\">Leap Day is for (unconventional) lovers<\/a>&#8221; &#8212; the one day when a woman could with society&#8217;s blessing propose to any man of her choosing. (see <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailygreen.com\/green-homes\/blogs\/nontoxic\/leap-day-lovers-460226\">The Daily Green<\/a><\/em>, Feb. 26, 2008) As the folks at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeanddate.com\/date\/leap-day-february-29.html\"><em>Time &amp; Date.com<\/em> explain<\/a> about February 29th:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>Tradition, Folklore and Superstition<\/p>\n<p>A tradition was introduced many centuries ago to allow women to propose to men during a leap year. This privilege of proposing was restricted to leap day in some areas. Leap day was sometimes known as \u201cBachelors\u2019 Day\u201d. A man was expected to pay a penalty, such as a gown or money, if he refused a marriage offer from a woman.<\/p>\n<p>The tradition\u2019s origin stemmed from an old Irish tale referring to St Bridget striking a deal with St Patrick . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/deniskitchen.com\/Merchant2\/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&amp;Category_Code=bios.sadiehawkins\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/files\/2008\/02\/sadiehawkins.jpg\" \/><\/a> running<br \/>\nright past me &#8212;<br \/>\nms. sadie hawkins<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;. by <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/dagosans-archives\/\"><em><font color=\"#a0522d\">dagosan<\/font><\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>For more particulars, see <em>Wikipedia<\/em>&#8216;s discussion of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Leap_year#Folk_traditions\">Leap Year traditions<\/a>, and check out Denis Kitchen&#8217;s description of <a href=\"http:\/\/deniskitchen.com\/Merchant2\/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&amp;Category_Code=bios.sadiehawkins\">Sadie Hawkins&#8217; Day<\/a>, on which all unmarried women could chase down Dogpatch bachelors and hogtie them into marriage. Although Al Capp always held the Sadie Hawkins Race in early November, in his <em>Li&#8217;l Abner<\/em> comic strip, it is now celebrated on (or confused with) February 29th by many Americans. Al Capp is gone, but unmarried women needing a little incentive, might want to check our the article &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.indystar.com\/apps\/pbcs.dll\/article?AID=2008802100321\">Hotels offer Leap Day proposal specials<\/a>&#8220;(<em>The Indy Star<\/em>, Feb. 10, 2008).<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<blockquote><p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/files\/2008\/02\/leapyearbecarefulclara1908.jpg\" \/> &#8220;<em>Be careful, Clara, that&#8217;s a fine Specimen.<\/em>&#8221; (Leap Year <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Image:PostcardLeapYearBeCarefulClara1908.jpg\">postcard<\/a>, 1908)<\/p>\n<p>one gray moth<br \/>\nabove the candle &#8211;<br \/>\nLeap Day ends<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;&#8230;. by <em>dagosan<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>leap year day<br \/>\nshe goes down<br \/>\non one knee<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;. by <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/roberta-beary-archive\/\"><font color=\"#a0522d\" face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">roberta beary<\/font><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/files\/2006\/08\/froglegsF.gif\" alt=\"froglegsF\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/>Naturally, the Leap Day tradition is also a boon or slight beacon of hope (and often a disappointment) for bashful bachelors, and those suffering chronically unrequited love (like <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2003\/07\/28\/iso-attractive-nuisance-blawgger\/\">this one<\/a>, whose still in search of an Attractive Nuisance co-blogger). Of course, many such single guys have always been just too darn choosey, and I&#8217;m sure they&#8217;ve been lining up excuses just in case they need to say no to a Leap Day proposal. As noted above, any such rejection is subject to penalties. According to <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Leap_year#Folk_traditions\"><em>Wikipedia<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Supposedly, a 1288 law by Queen Margaret of Scotland (then age five and living in Norway), required that fines be levied if a marriage proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to \u00a31 to a silk gown, in order to soften the blow.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Let&#8217;s hope the fines will not be needed, and Leap Day brings happiness to members of both genders. Our ever-optimistic <em>haikuEsq<\/em> wrote rather late last night to a number of female haijin, pleading for them to submit a haiku or senryu to share here today in honor of Leap Day. You&#8217;ll find poems sprinkled throughout this post from a number of those fair ladies, along with a few plaintive ones by our sadsack <em>dagosan<\/em>. Many thanks to Alice, Roberta, and Laryalee.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>As we receive (or conceive of) more Leap Day Ku, we&#8217;ll add them to this posting. Meanwhile, you single folk shouldn&#8217;t let Leap Day slip by without letting the (unmarried) object of your affections know your feelings.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>together . . . <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/files\/2006\/08\/frogpond.gif\" alt=\"frogpond\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><br \/>\nfirst light<br \/>\nof the extra day<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;. by <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/alice-frampton-archive\/\"><font color=\"#a0522d\" face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">alice frampton<\/font><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>the frog<br \/>\nand the lady &#8211;<br \/>\neyeing that mosquito<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;. by <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/dagosans-archives\/\"><em><font color=\"#a0522d\">dagosan<\/font><\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>leaping into<br \/>\nthe sound of no &#8212;<br \/>\nfrog prince<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.. by laryalee fraser<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/files\/2006\/08\/froglegs.gif\" alt=\"froglegs\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/>he tells her<br \/>\nhe&#8217;s already married<br \/>\n&#8230;leap year day<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;. by <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/roberta-beary-archive\/\"><font color=\"#a0522d\" face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">roberta beary<\/font><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>almost March 1st<br \/>\nthe Leap Day Bachelor<br \/>\nre-checks his email<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;. by dagosan<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><em><strong>afterglow<\/strong><\/em> (4 PM):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>the short month<br \/>\na leap day longer&#8211;<br \/>\nhe says yes<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>lunch date  <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/files\/2008\/02\/sadiehawkins.jpg\" height=\"54\" width=\"39\" \/><br \/>\nI dare him to mention<br \/>\nSadie Hawkins&#8217; Day<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;. by <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/peggy-willis-lyles-archive-part-ii\/\"><font color=\"#a0522d\" face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">peggy willis lyles<\/font><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><em>aftermath<\/em><\/strong> (March 1, 2008):<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>leap day<br \/>\nthe peach tones<br \/>\nof her nakedness<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230; by <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/ed-markowski-archive-part-ii\/\">Ed Markowski<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>March 1st snow &#8212;<br \/>\nthe old horny toad<br \/>\nwakes alone<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.. by dagosan<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>much more than an <strong>afterthought<\/strong><\/em> (March 3, 2008):<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.magnapoets.com\/magnapoets_japanese_form\/2008\/03\/post.html\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/files\/2008\/03\/leapday-yuchang.jpg\" height=\"124\" width=\"160\" \/> <\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Leap Day &#8211;<br \/>\nan old friend<br \/>\ntakes off her glasses<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.. by <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/yu-chang-archive\/\">Yu Chang<\/a> &#8211; photo haiga orig. posted at <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.magnapoets.com\/magnapoets_japanese_form\/2008\/03\/post.html\">Magnapoets JF<\/a><\/em> (March 2, 2008)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8211; <em><strong>update<\/strong><\/em> (March 3, 2008): Thanks to our friend David Fischer at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.antitrustreview.com\/\"><em>Antitrust Review<\/em><\/a>  for including this posting in <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.antitrustreview.com\/archives\/1291\"><em>Blawg Review<\/em> #149<\/a><\/strong>, which contains an extensive compilation of the best recent antitrust-&amp;-competition-related materials, as well as everything else of merit, to be found in the blawgiverse.  We are pleased that our open rivalry with <em>Antitrust Review<\/em> for top Google ratings relating to &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2007\/08\/26\/an-unthemely-response-and-sexy-antitrust-models-too\/\">antitrust humor and sexiness<\/a>&#8221; did not prevent David from pointing to our Leap Day presentation.  We&#8217;re a little concerned, though, that he placed this very serious piece of sociology and advocacy in the category &#8220;The Lighter Side&#8221;.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s February 29, 2008. What does this &#8220;Leap Day&#8221; mean to you? For conservationists and amphibian-lovers, it&#8217;s the launch date for the Year of the Frog, a reminder that, since 1980, &#8220;at least 120 species of frogs, toads, salamanders and other amphibians have gone extinct; as many as half of the 6,000 remaining species may [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[555,1414],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-haiku-or-senryu","category-qs-quickies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-2l3","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8993"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12335,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8993\/revisions\/12335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}