I just heard a metroPCS ad on the radio – they were complaining about the existence of “nighttime minutes” etc:
BOY: “What’s next, you get 20,000 Equinox Minutes? you can only use them once a year when the sun is at its peak.”
Actually, phone dork, that would be Summer Solstice Minutes. The longest day of the year is called the Summer Solstice. The shortest day is the Winter Solstice.
There are two Equinoxes (equinocies? equinoxen?)- a Fall Equinox and a Spring Equinox. equi- like “equal” or “equivalent.” It’s when the day is as long as the night. You might say it’s equal parts light and dark. Given my compulsive fact-checking, it is hard for me to imagine writing an ad like this and never questioning its accuracy.You know who would have caught this? Druid ad agencies. Or a druid/wiccan marketing department. Now there’s another example of workplace cultural diversity adding to the value of the company!
Plural of “equinox” would be equinoces.
Latin nouns ending in x go plural with -ces. Best-known-in English example would be “matrix.”
Love
Dad – from whom, for better or worse, you get your “rigorous” nature 🙂