Twice in a Blue Moon
January 25, 1999

Yf they saye the mone is blewe
We must beleve that it is true.

At first, then, it was ridiculous to think of the moon as blue, and a blue moon was as absurd as one made of green cheese. When the expression "till a blue moon" came on the scene in the early 19th century, it still meant "never" rather than "rarely."

Nowadays "once in a blue moon" translates best into W. S. Gilbert's famous line from "H.M.S. Pinafore": "What, never? Well, hardly ever." Perhaps that slight but crucial change in meaning was influenced by the observation that, on rare, unusually clear nights, the moon does seem to have a blue tinge. Others say that very special conditions -- ice crystals, cloud banks, or dust high in the air -- can turn the moon blue.

Words wander wondrously, and during the 20th century "blue moon" transmogrified yet again. A full moon comes every 29 and 1/2 days, when the earth's natural satellite is opposite the sun in the sky. Thus, any month except February can see two full moons. Still, two full moons in a single month occur approximately every 32 months. Gradually, the label "blue moon" became attached to that second full moon.

As the conjunction of heavenly bodies would have it, a full moon greeted the start of this year, on January 1, and now we will have a second one in the same month. Look out the window on Sunday, January 31, gentle reader, and you may well see a blue moon -- the clich‚ made reality.

And now the paradox of paradoxes: Incredibly, after a February of no full moon, another blue moon will occur just two months from now, on March 31. It truly is only once in a blue moon that we have two blue moons in the same year, let alone only two months apart.

Astrologers, vampire novelists and others fascinated by mysticism hold that the moon exerts a special pull not only on the tides, but on human affairs. Indeed, the word lunatic descends from the Latin luna, because it was believed that recurrent attacks of insanity were brought about by the varying phases of the moon. Prolonged exposure to the moon rendered one "moonstruck."

Lorentz Hart and Richard Rodgers may well have benefited from such superstitions. Their song "Blue Moon" (1934), a rewrite of several less successful versions and titles, became one of their first great hits, both endearing and enduring. Elvis Presley's 1961 recording of it sold more than a million discs.

Blue moon,
You saw me standing alone,
Without a dream in my heart,
Without a love of my own.

Each of the following clues yields a word or phrase that contains the word "moon." Shoot for the moon and get them all right. Answers repose at the end of this column.

1. a trip taken by newlyweds
2. working two jobs
3. illegally distilled liquor
4. to spend in idle reverie
5. sweet treat
6. star baseball pitcher
7. Cher movie
8. Andy Williams song
9. James Bond novel
10. John Steinbeck novel
11. W. Somerset Maugham novel
12. Wilkie Collins novel
13. a day of the week

Answers
1. honeymoon 2. moonlighting 3. moonshine 4. to moon 5. Moon Pie 6. Blue Moon Odom 7. Moonstruck 8. "Moon River" 9. Moonraker 10. The Moon is Down 11. The Moon and Sixpence 12. The Moonstone 13. Monday ("moon day")

© Richard Lederer

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Pun and Games is a book of word play designed for children 10 years old and up. Children of this age have enjoyed Anguished English and Get Thee To a Punnery, but I did not write those books for them. In fact, there are hardly any invitations to word fun out there that target this age group. That's a shame, because middle schoolers are naturally playful users of language and take delight in messing around with words.

Pun and Games introduces young readers to the major types of word play -- homographs, homophones, double-sound puns, and spoonerisms. An assortment of amusing and challenging games ("Pun Fun") solidifies each concept explained, and I frequently invite the reader to create challenges of their own ("Your Turn"). As the ancient Chinese proverb proclaims, "Tell me, I forget. Show me, I remember. Involve me, I understand."

To begin at the beginning, here's the first chapter of Pun and Games. I invite you to invite the 10-13-year-olds in your life to share the text that follows. For you adults out there, the material may enkindle some pleasant memories.

Whether the weather is good,
Or whether the weather is not;
Whether the weather is cold,
Or whether the weather is hot;
We'll weather the weather,
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not!

You have been speaking, hearing, and reading puns most of your life. When you were very young, you probably chanted songs like

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear.
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.
Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy, was he?

and

A sailor went to C-C-C,
To see what he could C-C-C,
But all that he could C-C-C
Was the bottom of a great blue C-C-C.

These verses are children's first attempts to put into memorable form their pleasure in discovering that the same sound can suggest two or three different meanings -- Wuzzy and was he; C, sea, and see.

Words and sounds that spark forth two or more meanings are called puns. A pun has been defined as a play upon words, a play upun words, and a prey upon words.

Unless you were raised as a hermit (or, if you are a boy, a hismit), you probably recognize many of these traditional riddles:

• What's black and white and red (read) all over?
  A newspaper.
• What did the letter say to the stamp?
  Stick with me and we'll go places.
• What kind of shoes are made from banana skins?
  Slippers.
• What kind of rooms have no walls?
  Mushrooms.
• How do you know when it's raining cats and dogs?
  When you step in a poodle.
• When is a door not a door?
  When it's ajar.
• What happened to the boy who drank eight Cokes?
  He burped Seven-Up.

1. Why did Silly Billy throw the clock out the window?
   He wanted to see time _______.
2. Why did Silly Billy throw the butter out the window?
   He wanted to see butter _______.
3. Why did Silly Billy take a ladder to the ball park? He wanted to see the _______ play.
4. Why did Silly Billy tiptoe past the medicine cabinet?
   He didn't want to wake up the _______ pills.
5. Why did Silly Billy jump off the Empire State Building?
   He wanted to make a _______ _______ on Broadway.

   Now, without any clues, try to guess the answers to these elephant jokes:

6. Where do elephants store their clothes?
7. How do you make an elephant float?
8. What happens to a grape when an elephant steps on it?
9. How can you stop an elephant from charging?
10. Who are the two most famous elephant singers?

Here are fifteen posters and placards that have appeared around the world. They are all signs of our times, times in which we human beings love to fiddle with words and to laugh at the loony tunes that such fiddling produces:

• At a tire store: Time to re-tire.
• Over a display of batteries: Wanna start something?
• In a music store window: Guitars for sale. Cheap. No strings attached.
• In a pet store window: Merry Christmas and a Yappy New Year.
• On a peanut stand: If our peanuts were any fresher, they'd be insulting.
• In an ice cream and dairy store: You can't beat our milk shakes, but you can whip our cream and lick our ice-cream cones.
• In a shoe store: Come in and have a fit.
• In a real estate office: Get lots for little.
• In a butcher shop window: Never a bum steer.
• At a poultry farm: Better laid than ever.
• On a southern street: No U-all turns.
• Over a bargain basement counter: What you seize is what you get.
• In a beauty parlor: Curl up and dye.
• In a restaurant: Don't stand outside and be miserable. Come inside and be fed up.
• In a delicatessen: Protect your bagels. Put lox on them.

Here are ten more real signs. Supply the missing words.

1. On a diaper service truck: Rock a _______ baby.
2. At a planetarium: Cast of thousands. Every one a _______.
3. On the wall of a dentist's office: Always be true to your teeth, or they will be _______ to you.
4. Outside an optician's shop: _______ for sore eyes.
5. In the window of a watch repair shop: If it doesn't tick, _______ to us.
6. In a jewelry store: There's no present like the _______.
7. In a billiard parlor window: Try our indoor _______.
8. At a tire store: We _______ you not.
9. In a garden shop: Lighten up your garden. Plant _______.
10. In a reducing salon: Only twenty-four _______ days till Christmas.

Answers: 1. dry 2. star 3. false 4. site 5. tock 6. time 7. pool 8. skid 9. bulbs 10. shaping

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