Down with Daylight Savings Time. Up with morning time.

(with apologies to Dr. Seuss, read the poem below to the rhythm of 'Green Eggs and Ham')

I do not like the time change, old I am

I do not like it slam damn bam.

Would I like it here or there?

I would not like it here or there

I would not like it anywhere

I do not like the switcheroo

I do not want it — for me nor you!

I think that makes clear I do not like the time change; while longer summer evenings are pleasant, they don’t really last all that many days out of the year’s 365 and, as soon as we reach the summer equinox, we begin the slide down hill towards shorter days anyway. I say, let’s just stick to Standard Time and learn to love it and live with it. After all, it’s not like we actually gain daylight hours; we merely exchange morning light for evening light. Yes, I speak as a morning person. I say, Down with the time change! Up with early morning rising!

The history of Daylight Savings Time (DST) has to do with having more daylight at the end of the standard 9-5 work day — daylight during which to enjoy leisure activities outside and beyond that work day. To be noted, of course, is that not everyone works 9-5, that many people work more than one job just to survive, and that the concept of 'leisure' is not known to everyone. Interestingly, in Canada, Thunder Bay (then known as Port Arthur) was the first municipality to adopt DST; Saskatchewan stopped using it in 1966, staying with Standard Time all year long. The agrarian sector, logically, does the chores related to their livestock and their land when there is daylight, no matter what time the clocks say. Regardless of anything else, you can count on the "spring forward" and "fall back" weekends to generate a lot of heated debate about the usefulness and desirability of the time change. 

In many posts I’ve read on this matter recently, the words “biennial” and “biannual” are used interchangeably to mean ‘twice a year’. Not correct! English is an odd and complicated language: Bi-weekly means every two weeks or every second week (not twice a week) — this week but not next, the one thereafter but not the one after that, etc. Therefore, it would be logical to assume that biannual means every two years (rather than twice a year), right? Yes, it would be logical, but English is many things though not logical. 

• According to the Oxford English Dictionary, biannual means “occurring twice a year”. 
• Biennial, on the other hand, means “recurring every two years” — i.e., this year but not next. (Consider “centennial” — every 100 hundreds — definitely not 100 times in the year!) [Note: I had initially thought an excellent example of “biennial” would be the Venice Biennale, an international culture event held in Venice. Um, not so. The Venice Biennale takes place every year; it is the focus of the event that changes from one year to the next. One year, it’s art; the next it’s architecture. This feature is what gives the festival its name.]

The words are not the same, no, they’re not

Do not make them so, do not.

Use your noggin, check the book

Pick the one you mean.

The solution for clarity is, in my (never humble) opinion, the very useful and absolutely clear phrase “twice yearly”. As in, “We change time twice yearly.” Or, “We change time twice a year.” Though, actually, I would prefer that we not ever change the time, that we pick Standard Daylight Time as the norm, and that we keep it always throughout the year. Any politicians listening????

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Land acknowledgement: I respectfully recognize that I live on the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.

Photo by Dapo Oni on Unsplash