----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Davies" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <LEAPSECS@ROM.USNO.NAVY.MIL> Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2007 3:55 PM Subject: [LEAPSECS] Wikipedia article
> Thanks to those who confirmed the ITU text on when leap seconds can > be applied. > > I've made two small edits to the Wikipedia article to correct > parts which were wrong or potentially misleading (plus a slightly > tongue-in-cheek remark in the discussion page) > > However, it's a horrible article and really needs reorganization > as some of the paragraphs have suffered serious mission creep. > > I don't even like the first sentence. "Intercalary" seems wrong > to me as a leap second is part of the day it is applied to, not > between days. I thought about changing it but decided I might > be being a bit blinkered in my definition of "intercalary". > Thoughts? > > Ed. > The French-language term for leap second is "second intercalaire", so calling a leap second "intercalary" has a linguistic precedent if nothing else. Besides, the English term "leap second" is a misnomer--a leap year is a year with an extra day in it (and the inserted day is *not* called a leap day) so by analogy the insertion of a second should probably have been termed a "leap minute". But that's all cesium over the dam, now. Brian
