If by some bizarre circumstance you
were thinking of going in for some bloodletting tomorrow, you might want
to hold off, because November 17th was, according to some
medieval writers, one of the “dies mali” (“bad days”
in Latin), two days every month particularly unsuited for this
medical intervention. In English, these 24 unlucky days were called
collectively “the dismal”, but by
the 1400s, people started to call them, with unwitting redundancy,
“the dismal days”, and thus “dismal” became an adjective
meaning first “unlucky”, but eventually “gloomy and
depressing”, a good description for most November days.
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About Me
- Katherine Barber
- Canada's Word Lady, Katherine Barber is an expert on the English language and a frequent guest on radio and television. She was Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary. Her witty and informative talks on the stories behind our words are very popular. Contact her at wordlady.barber@gmail.com to book her for speaking engagements; she can tailor her talks to almost any subject. She is also available as an expert witness for lawsuits.
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