Another one I got wrong as a kid…. The Ides of March.  I thought it was Hides.  I always heard the month was coming in like a lion, and going out like a lamb…. so I thought when people were quoting the well-known Shakespearean reference, that they were saying Hides.  Like…… animal hides.  It made absolutely no sense to me at all because I had never seen a lamb or a lion, in our neighborhood, in March, or any other month for that matter.

No one really seems to know the origin of the word “ides” which refers to the “middle day” of the month on the Roman Calendar.   (There are also connections to the God Mars, and also to the Full Moon.)  I can’t find out “why” though.

However, most people know that it was a bad, bad day for Julius Caesar.  In 44 B.C. Jule-Man was stabbed (23 times) to death in the Roman Senate led by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus and 60 other co-conspirators.  He visited a “Seer” just prior to his death.  The Seer said to Julesey…. “Beware of the Ides of March.”  (…and Shakespeare then wrote about it…Julius Caesar Act 1, scene 2, 15–19 )

Another connect the dot for you….. the Caesar Salad is often thought to be named for Julius Caesar.  Oh, no, no, no.  The salad was created by an Italian-born Mexican restaurateur names Caesar Cardini…. AND it first appeared on a restaurant menu in L.A., on March 15, 1946 (HOLY Lettuce Leaves & Anchovies!).  It was a Friday, in case you were wondering.  The name of the restaurant was called the Lion’s Lair.  I bet you are wicky-jigging right now… just sitting there wicky-jigging…..

…. I know I am.  Right down to my hide.