Hey hey!
I have a few vivid memories from first grade. They’re mostly about baseball. And recess. And when I wrote a short story about a shooting star.
Oh, and there was that one time when my school hosted a frog jumping competition.
Wait, was that real?
Yes, it was — just confirmed with my Mom.
Frogs get all the jumping glory.
I think it’s because of good branding.
A few species are more talented leapers than frogs. But they’re uglier.
The jumping spider has ‘jumping’ in its name. Unfortunately, it also has ‘spider’. Then there’s the grasshopper. And don’t forget about the kangaroo rat.
But the GOAT of jumping is a pesty little bug — literally. Jumping 200x further than its body size is the flea, which had a breakout branding moment thanks to Stranger Things.
Leap day is this Thursday.
I won’t bore you with why history created the day. TL;DR It’s the brainchild of Julias Ceasar, astrology, and math. If you’re a nerd, I wrote that post last year 👇
Today I’m sharing two interesting facts about leap day — things nobody taught me in 1st grade…because I was competing with frogs.
It’s a Celtic tradition for women to propose to men on leap day
Bachelor’s Day.
Ladies’ Privilege.
Next-Level Sadie Hawkins.
These are other names for February 29th — except for the last one. I made that up.
You can thank the same man who gets you pinched every March 17th: Saint Patrick.
In the 5th century, Saint Bridget complained to Saint Patrick that women had to wait too long to marry because men moved too slowly. That complaint is still aging like a fine wine.
Sherlock pinch-a-lot got more cheeky than a bottomless leprechaun and gave ladies one day every four years to take a knee.
The tradition quickly gained (legal!) traction in Scotland and England. When the US caught wind, we hated it (even when it featured Amy Adams).
In 13th-century Scotland, the Queen made it an actual law that women could propose during an entire leap year. There was a caveat or two.
Ladies had to wear a red petticoat while popping the question, and a refusal would result in the fine of a kiss, a dress, or gloves (to hide her ring finger).
People born on a leap day are called “leapers” or “leaplings”
The Bible has Simon the leper. The movies have Joseph Gordon-Levitt the Looper. And the world, well, we have Tony Robbins the leaper.
The odds of being born on a leap day are about 1 in 1,500.
But Tony Robbins lives to defy the odds.
So does Ja Rule. The rapper will turn 48 12 on February 29th. I guess we can’t blame him too much for his involvement with Fyre Festival.
Stay froggy, leapers.
✌️
— Luke
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