HAPPY TWOS-DAY: Today, the world hits an unprecedented milestone. It’s the date itself: 02/22/22. And this so-called “Twosday” falls on a Tuesday, no less.
Utilizing the date in its standard day/month/year form, 22 February 2022, it happens to be both a palindrome and an ambigram. Meaning the date, 22022022, will read the same from left to right, from right to left AND upside down.
Twosday isn’t the only date with a striking pattern. This century alone has had a couple Onesdays (1/11/11 and 11/11/11), and 11 other months with repetitions such as 01/01/01, 06/06/06 and 12/12/12. We’ll hit Threesday, 3/3/33, in 11 years, and Foursday 11 years after that. Since the year 2000, we have experienced three 222 days, however the world will not experience another 222 sequence again until 2/2/2222. So even though three 222 days have passed this century, another will not be experienced for 200 years.
For students these days have their own significant meaning — children who are in first grade for “Twosday, 2/22/22” will graduate the year of “Threesday, 3/3/33.”
“Twosday” carries absolutely no historical significance or any cosmic message. Yet it does speak volumes about our brains and cultures.
The brain has evolved a fantastic capacity to find meanings and connections. Doing so once meant the difference between survival and death. Changes in daylight indicated when to plant crops and when to harvest them.
When a number sequence seems to jump out, this is an example of apophenia; perceiving meaningful connections between unrelated things. Another example of apophenia is astrology, which visually connects stars into constellations. “Twosday” is also an example of numerology, the pseudoscientific practice of attaching supernatural significance to numbers.
