Kill “Monthsary”

Filipinos give much value to the monthly celebration of a “boyfriend-girlfriend” relationship. In fact, owing to the lack of an English term therefor, we have even created a word for it, i.e., monthsary.

The etymology of this term, however, eludes me. I can only surmise that it is the result of combining “month” and “sary”. The use of the word “month” is without a doubt clear enough. But what about “sary”? Obviously, it was derived from anniversary by taking “anniv” out, which we know to refer to a year. Now, “sary” doesn’t mean anything, or if it does, it is not related to its intended use. Thus, monthsary as a term is senseless.

Since we took it upon ourselves to coin a word, shouldn’t we at least make something that has logical basis? So, I propose  MENSIVERSARY.

Its etymology is easy to understand, we just use “anniversary” as the basis. It comes from two Latin terms, namely, annus and versare. The former means “year” and the latter means “to turn”. So “anniversary” means to turn another year. Hence, if we want to refer to “to turn another month”, we get the Latin term for month, which is mensus, and connect it to the Latin term versare. This results in MENSIVERSARY.

Now we have a logical term. It’s time to stop using something without basis. Don’t greet your loved one “happy monthsary” anymore. It means nothing. It amounts to greeting without meaning. Spread the word. Spread the love. So to all whose relationship turned another month today, I greet you all a HAPPY MENSIVERSARY!!!