It's All in the Name by Vivien Teasdale

 On 24 February 1582, Pope Gregory XIII proclaimed that the Gregorian Calendar would come into effect in October of that year. This would replace the Julian Calendar which had become ‘out of sync’ with what was actually happening to the seasons, which made it difficult to calculate the actual date of Easter. To make up for the discrepancy, the date leapt from 4 October to 15 October, thus losing ten days.

Leap years are those that are divisible by four (eg 2024. Just missed it if you were thinking of proposing, ladies.) The quandary over whether to celebrate a 29 February birthday every year or only every fourth year did not occur until much later. The first Gregorian calendars simply had two days called 24 February. Why they chose that day, rather than having two 28 February days is a mystery.

Years that are divisible by 100 are only leap years if they are also divisible by 400. The next one will be in the year 3000 AD. You may want to book early for the celebrations.

Not all countries adopted the calendar straight away. Britain took until 1752 before they updated their calendars, when we had to lose eleven days instead of only ten.

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Have any of your writings been bowdlerised lately? If so, perhaps you should clean up your act! Dr Thomas Bowdler thought Shakespeare was far too cheeky for children and well-brought-up ladies. He removed all reference of a sexual nature and any double-entendres. The little that was left was published as The Family Shakespeare in 1818. Any books, plays, films etc which have been doctored in this way are referred to as being ‘bowdlerised’. This has included such works as Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl) and Doctor Doolittle (Hugh Lofting). Nowadays, attitudes such as racism and sexism are also often bowdlerised from published works.

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We are often urged to boycott certain products or companies on moral or political grounds in order to cause loss of income for the manufacturer. It began in 1880 when Captain Charles Boycott was the land agent for Lord Erne. During a time of poor harvests, Erne offered a ten per cent reduction in rents to help ameliorate the situation. However, when the tenants later demanded twenty-five per cent reduction, it was refused and Boycott tried to evict some of them.

Everyone in the area agreed to shun the man. No one would work for him, local traders would not deal with him and the estate lost money as they could not harvest their crops. The use of the term ‘boycott’ soon spread when it was seen how effective it had been.

The term ‘girlcott’ was coined in 1968 in connection with actions on women’s rights.

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How many times have you linked your phone to your tablet or computer or been thankful that your mouse no longer has to be tethered via a lead? You’ve been using bluetooth technology.

Developed in Scandinavia, the name comes from King Harald Bluetooth of Denmark who, in the tenth century, brought peace to the Danish tribes, who had spent years at war with each other. As well as uniting the tribes, he introduced Christianity but lost out in battle to his son, Sweyn Forkbeard. Sweyn went on to become the first Viking King of England and father of Cnut, who had a very unsuccessful chat with the waves.

What a good job the Danes chose Harald's last name for their eponym and not Forkbeard.

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Human nature being what it is, we often remember the worst things about a person rather than the good. John Duns Scotus was a theologian, educated mainly at Oxford, ordained as a Franciscan Priest in 1291, lectured at Oxford, and in 1302 moved to teach in Paris. He was expelled from there, briefly, but returned in 1304. By 1307 he was at the Franciscan University in Cologne. He died there the following year. He was an intellectual, very influential in his time and was, in fact, beatified in 1993. He may, some day, be made a saint.

So what is his eponym? Duns resisted new ideas and some of his theological views were not welcomed. They were considered muddled and confused. Others mocked him, called him stupid and called anyone who agreed with his opinions, stupid too. In fact, they were named ‘Dunsmen’ or ‘Dunces’, which eventually morphed into ‘Dunce’.

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They were originally known as the "Reform Costume", the "American Dress, or the "Freedom Dress", but we all know them as “Bloomers”, named after a women's rights activist, Amelia Bloomer.

The impact of bloomers was, like their size, enormous but it was men who felt threatened by the garment. By 1851, the USA was awash with the bloomer fad. Bloomer balls, bloomer picnics, bloomer institutes were formed and dress reform became the talk of the times. The Bloomer became a symbol of women's rights, to the extent that clergy and other critics of feminism, stigmatised the wearing of “pants” by women as a usurpation of male authority.

Pity the Bloomington, Illinois, minor baseball team, then. Despite being an all-male team, they were nicknamed "The Bloomers".

By the 1890s, women, hooked on the bicycle craze, began to wear a version of the bloomer. These became known as athletic bloomers worn by women, not just for riding a bike, but for gymnastics, and other sports.

Women's baggy knickers, fastened at knee level, are also known as "bloomers". Though they were most popular in the early nineteenth century, they continued to be worn by older women for many decades. Versions of them can still be bought today.

You’ve also probably heard, or even used, the expression “Bloomin’ ‘eck!” Sorry, it’s nothing to do with underwear. It’s a Yorkshire euphemism for bloody hell. Mr Bowdler would be pleased.

"Bloomers" by TwoPointsCouture is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.