Everyone knows April showers bring May flowers or whatever, but that's pretty boring because nobody really likes gardening all that much. Unless you do, in which case that's perfectly fine. You do you.

For everyone else, May means summer is about to start, kids are almost out of school, people start writing commencement speeches, and the weather is getting hotter - but there's a lot more to it than all that. Here are seven interesting facts about May that you may not know about May.

See what I did there?

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    May is named after Maia, the Greek goddess of fertility

    Not so fast, Little Miss Fertility. The Roman poet Ovid took issue with the whole idea of May being named after a Greek goddess, so he decided the name actually came from the word majores, which means the elders. Likewise, he said June got its name from juniores, which means youth.

    Which is all well and good, but everyone alive today knows we have Justin Timberlake and NSYNC to thank for the name.

    “It’s gonna be May!”

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    May makes presidents immortal

    No US president has ever died in May, which might not sound like that big of a deal, but it’s the only month of the year that can make the claim, which kind of makes May the real-life version of that one video game power-up that makes you invulnerable for a few minutes. Except it lasts a whole month and it’s only for presidents.

     

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    May is also November

    Okay, not really. At least, not where we are in the Northern Hemisphere, when it’s clearly springtime. However, it’s autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, which makes May the seasonal equivalent of November down there.

    Don’t believe me? The average monthly temperature for May in Australia - the mysterious land down under where park rangers and wildlife experts wear those weird little khaki shorts year-round and literally everything wants to kill you - is only 61°. The average low is 54°.

    In contrast, the average monthly temperature for November in Louisiana is 62°.

    Happy fall, y'all.

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    Be sure to keep your floors dusty, your sheets dirty, and stay single this month

    Superstition says you shouldn’t buy a broom, wash a blanket, or get married in May. Why? Because, “Brooms bought in May sweep the family away.” Obviously.

    As for blankets, it’s pretty much the same thing. “Wash a blanket in May, wash the family away.”

    It’s a bad month for cleanliness if you want to keep people alive, which, considering the second item on this list, probably means the White House is super dirty in May. It’s the only explanation, really.

    Oh, and about marriage: “Marry in the month of May, and you’ll surely rue the day.”

    I’m pretty sure all these superstitions only started because it’s so much easier to rhyme words with May than any other month. It’s probably why there isn’t a saying like, “Marry in the month of January, and I’ll be your huckleberry.”

    Ugh. That was awful. I'm sorry.

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    May is kind of a primadonna

    In any single year, no other month begins or ends on the same day of the week as May, because I guess that would take away from the month’s time in the spotlight or something. It was named after a goddess, after all. And we all know how spoiled goddesses can be.

    It’s true, though. Grab a calendar and check it out for yourself.

    May 1, 2017 is a Monday, while May 31 is a Wednesday. No other month in 2017 begins on a Monday or ends on a Wednesday, because May just ain’t havin’ that kind of competition.

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    It’s a good month to be lazy

    Did you know there’s an International Day of Idleness? Probably not, because if you’re like me, you were too lazy to ever bother finding out. But there is!

    May 2 was officially named International Day of Idleness in 1966 at something called The World Tramps Conference in Argentina, which I assume was a conference for vagabonds and not any other, more modern, definition of the word tramp.

    Unfortunately, the US doesn’t recognize it as a federal holiday or anything, so if you try to call in to work with the excuse of having a whole lot of nothing to do that day, you’re likely to get a whole Month (or more) of Idleness while you look for another job.

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    If you were born in May, you’re either a Mosquito or an Ox Tail

    Sure, technically you’re a Taurus if you were an early May baby or a Gemini if you were born later in the month, but those are really boring zodiac signs nobody cares about anymore.

    The cool kids have all adopted the Cajun Signs of the Zodiac, which says everyone born before May 21 are stubborn, persistent little bloodsuckers while everyone born after May 20 are tricky, independent people who don’t need anyone’s approval.

    Don’t believe me? Go see for yourself.

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