I'm Minyeon Fokrty and you can think of me as your friendly guide to the English language.

We talk about writing, history, rules and cool stuff, and today we'll hit heavy on

the history with a segment about the I'ds of March, and then in honor of St. Patrick's

Day, we'll talk about some fun Irish phrases.

From this time of year, the ominous phrase Be Where the I'ds of March starts to pop up.

Be Where, Be Where, but what does it mean and why should we be afraid?

The I'ds of March is March 15th, and the phrase telling us to be where he comes from

Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar, in which a soothsayer emerges from a crowd to warn

the Roman dictator with the now famous words Be Where the I'ds of March.

In this isn't just an act from a play, Julius Caesar really was stabbed to death in the

Roman Senate by a group of senators on the I'ds of March in 44 BC.

The ancient historian Plutarch even reported that the real life Caesar was warned of impending

doom by a seer named Sparina, so Shakespeare was sticking pretty close to the actual

history.

I'ds is a Latin word of unknown origin, but it's one of three words that Romans used

to mark specific days of the month on their calendar.

Calends, knowns, and I'ds.

And even though these words all end with S, they're singular, in case it wasn't clear

the I'ds of March is one day.

The Roman calendar was dramatically different from what we used today.

It had only ten set months, but the Romans inserted extra months sometimes in a way I found

incredibly confusing.

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