May '22

On a gorgeous May day one might begin to wonder why "Mayday" is in fact an international distress code word. Does anybody really need to be saved from these fresh spring days? Would it not make more sense to call for help using a drearier month, say, "November day"? Add some rain, guns and roses and you might get at least one band of people agreeing with this proposition.

There is, however, one obvious explanation and if you are allergic to pollen, you will know where my thoughts are headed. A gentle November drizzle feels like a blessing compared to the acute allergic reaction to a blossoming tree.

So, were the severe allergy-related inconveniences of spring the reason why Mayday became synonymous with a cry for help in death-threatening situations on the sea or in the air? Not quite. Actually, not at all.

This lexeme is in fact a prime example of a smooth and unconscious collaboration between the banks of the English Channel. In the year 1923, the French phrase “m’aider”, meaning “help me”, was pronounced by Frederick Stanley Mockford, a senior radio officer based at Croydon Airport, so proficiently that an international convention establishing the use of this word was agreed four years later.

But why is May called May then? This time the blame lies a bit more south, in Rome. Old Romans had a strong habit of naming months after their favourite gods and Maia was not left out. How could she? The goddess of growth and blooming. May I say, it had to be May?