Hey Froz, you ought to get Robyn Hitchcock's record "Respect" so you could listen to the song "The Moon Inside". The rest of the record is worthwhile as well but you might really respond to that track. Here is what Hitchcock had to say about the song:

I think it's about the power inside a woman. It's lunar. It's tidal. It's just as the menstrual cycle is linked, amazingly enough, to the passage of the moon, as are, I think, the activities of crabs. And I've never understood why a full moon is powerful, because life on earth has evolved with the moon. There is now a moon inside of us. If a woman went off to Alpha Centauri or something like that she would still menstruate in twenty-eight day cycles, at least to begin with. And probably if you took a bunch of crabs and put them on Pluto or something in a huge salt-water tank, they would initially act in synch with the way the moon affected crabs on earth. So we've got that lunar element inside of us, and I specifically link it with ... this particular song has to do with passion, if you like -- the way quite unexpected feelings can come up in people, just as the sea has all kind of moods. The sea can caress you; the sea can break your neck. The sea can be treacherous; the sea can buoy you up and keep there; the sea can pull you down and finish you forever. The sea is your mother; the sea is potentially your assassin. We supposedly come out of the sea. Maybe if the world ever, sort of, chokes on its own vomit, the sea will be the last place to be terminally polluted. There must be huge great things down there, the size of cathedrals, kind of, buried feelings, right at the bottom where we can't see. I think this is all just related to the moon inside, as the hidden, the unexplained, the uncontrollable forces of the sea, which again are controlled by the moon.

Froz, thanks so much for that update on blue moons! I too only knew the newer misstatment of the blue moon rule, but always had a gut feeling that something was wrong with it - as "once in blue moon" always seemed rarer to me than "on average, once a year". Instead, it looks like they are almost always 33 months apart.

I enjoyed your lyricism in your post - I hope you will keep trying to turn the rest of us into lunatics like you!

I truly appreciate this reminder of how in touch we all are with nature, whether we realize it or not.

Wrath? No, I like the moon too. I think you're indulging in a li'l self-promotion, but hey, nothing wrong with that.

So at what point does an incorrect usage become correct? I'd venture that about umpteen times more people now know the second-in-the month rule than the "convoluted seasonal rule" of the old almanacs. So why is it still wrong?

I first encountered it, by the way, in the truly awesome but seldom seen indie vampire flick Habit which I suspect some of the 'stropher crowd might enjoy.

Also, this post would have been even better without the gratuitous feminist-bashing. They don't object to separate men's and women's restrooms either, you know.

at what point does an incorrect usage become correct

The linked article makes the same point, at the end of the article; the author suggests both usages should become standard.

The thought of allowing the "second full moon in a month" usage makes me nauseous. :)

The thought of allowing the "second full moon in a month" usage makes me nauseous.

Bah. You're probably one of those people who snickers when someone says they "could care less" and gets all huffy about "begging the question."

Another pertinent Hitchcock song is "I've Got a Full Moon in my Soul", off of Spooked.

If you think a blue moon ought to be blue, then consider the time when the new moon is aligned so that sunlight reflecting off the earth illuminates the 'dark' part. The resulting color is blue.

As "Once in a blue MEANS RATHER UNCOMMON, i PREFER THE OLD MEANING.