"Once in a Blue Moon" Idiom Meaning, Origin & History | Superduper English Idioms
Channel: Superduper English Idioms
Date: 2021-03-21

0:00 - How to Say, “Once in a blue moon.”
0:18 - Examples of “Once in a blue moon.”
1:04 - Meaning of “Once in a blue moon.”
1:22 - Origin of “Once in a blue moon.”
4:12 - More Examples of “Once in a blue moon.”
5:01 - Conclusion

“Once in a blue moon.”

When someone says that something is done “once in a blue moon,” it means that it is rarely, if ever, done at all!

“You promised that you’d keep your room clean, but it’s only ever clean once in a blue moon!” your parents might be nagging you.

Maybe your friend sees you pigging out on cake, “Don’t worry, I only eat unhealthy like this once in a blue moon.”

“Once in a blue moon, I like to just sit back and look up at the stars… I normally don’t have any time!” your friend might tell you late one night.

As you can tell, “once in a blue moon”, means infrequently, seldom, hardly ever or can even mean never, not at all, on no occasion.

You don’t have to be an astronomer to be confident that the moon never appears blue; it is normally grey illuminated yellow or white by the sun, and can sometimes appear orange.

Thus, the idiom, “once in a blue moon”, originally started off describing something that could never happen…

… though, over the years, “once in a blue moon” has also come to describe an event that does happen, but rarely, infrequently, scarcely, hardly ever.

In fact, the moon has appeared blue a few times in the past 100 or so years!

In 1883, when Indonesia’s Krakatoa volcano exploded and sent massive amounts of dust and ash into the atmosphere, the moon appeared blue all around the world for two years.

The Indian monsoons arrived late in 1927 and the extra-long dry season caused large amounts of dust to be blown into the air, causing another blue moon.

Most recently, the 1951 forest fires of western Canada caused smoke particles to fill the sky and the moon appeared blue for those in the northeastern USA and eastern Canada.

Most of the time, people are lazy and so only do unpleasant things once in a blue moon…

… but sometimes, people think they do unhealthy or hazardous things only once in a blue moon, when in fact it’s a lot more frequent than they realize!

Thus, if you want to know how often you do something, you’ve got to make sure to write it down.

“You say we only eat fast food ‘once in a blue moon’, but this is the second time this week you’ve brought home burgers!” you might say to your partner.

Perhaps your mom is complaining to her friend, “My daughter only visits me once in a blue moon. I haven’t seen my granddaughter since she was born!”

“You can park here, don’t worry. They only ever give out tickets once in a blue moon,” your friend who lives at a condo might tell you.

So, the next time you want to say that something hardly ever, seldom, infrequently or never, not ever, does not, will not happen, just say that it’s “once in a blue moon”.

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References: https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/once-in-a-blue-moon/