Is a "Month of Sundays" four or thirty?

Depends if you’re a donkey or an ass.

The whole month.

Pretty bad. Sounds like you haven’t talked to your mom in a a few blue moons.

How long had it been?

I thought it meant something like 30 Sundays, i.e., 30 weeks.

Edit: or 29 weeks plus a day, or whatever.

No. Every day of the month is a Sunday…28, 30, or 31.

A month of Sundays is approximately 30 Sundays… which would normally occur over a period of roughly eight months. So… a long time.

Ah, @gailcalled and @dappled_leaves that is what I thought. Ok, so maybe she is exaggerating somewhat. However, if it were the four (over the last month) she would probably be correct since it was Feb. last we spoke.

@rojo Well, I wouldn’t take too much comfort in that it has only been a calendar month since you called her. By any measure, she was telling you “it has been too long”.

Rest assured that if there are 4 or 30 days or more, you’ve been a very naughty boy and need to call your mother more often. I only WISH my mother was still with me so I could phone her every Sunday and every other day in between. CALL HER MORE OFTEN. She needs to hear from you. Trust me, even the most mundane will mean the world. Even if you found something on special at the grocery store or went to a movie or decided to not go to a movie…. she would love to hear about it. She’s your Mum. You only get one. Call her more. and send her my love, too.

It seems to me that @dappled_leaves and @gailcalled are saying tow different things. I first thought of it the same way as Gail – one month in which every day is a Sunday which might have originally meant 30 long, boring days one right after the other. @dappled_leaves’ interpretation, which also seems valid, is that it is 30 or so weekly occurring Sundays, e.g. a long time. I suspect the original meaning has been lost in the mists of time and that @cazzie has it right. Call your Mom more often. And while you’re at it, tell my sons too. (He hasn’t called in…..a very long time.)

Oh behalf of all mothers here, I remind all sons and daughters to call your mothers more often, please. We love you and have art work on our walls you made when you were 9. We think of you on a multiple of timelines, even while you are living on your (probably) complicated one time line you are currently obsessed with. We want to hear from our 9 year old version and the 16 year old we took pictures of going to the prom…. and the rest…...which is all wrapped up in YOU! Yes, that is quite a responsibility, but just remember we went though labour to have you… hours and hours…. You could phone us for a few minutes. (I lost my true calling. I should have been a writer for Hallmark)

@cazzie Here, here!

Unless of course your mother has been abusive, either emotionally or physically. Then don’t feel bad, and don’t raise your blood pressure by talking to her more than makes you comfortable.
Just playing Devil’s Advocate here.

Trudging slowly over wet sand
Back to the bench where your clothes were stolen
This is the coastal town
That they forgot to close down
Armageddon – come Armageddon!
Come, Armageddon! Come!

Everyday is like Sunday
Everyday is silent and grey

Hide on the promenade
Etch a postcard :
“How I Dearly Wish I Was Not Here”
In the seaside town
That they forgot to bomb
Come, come, come – nuclear bomb

Everyday is like Sunday
Everyday is silent and grey

Trudging back over pebbles and sand
And a strange dust lands on your hands
(And on your face…)
(On your face…)
(On your face…)
(On your face…)

Everyday is like Sunday
“Win yourself a cheap tray”
Share some greased tea with me
Everyday is silent and grey

It’s fucking happy hour!! :D

30 so roughly 30 weeks.

Interesting question, and I concur with @cazzie. I have a young son who is incredibly remiss in calling me. It leaves me worried and hurt and with no reason whatsoever other than he’s a selfish little sod. So call your mum @rojo. However old you are, she wants to hear from you.

Month of Sundays = 28 to 31 days.

If she said “a week of Sundays” would you say, “Seven weeks!”

No, you would not.

@jaytkay Then, a month of Sundays is a month? What is the point of such a phrase?

@dappled_leaves See the interpretation I gave above which one source said was the original one.

The OED definition implies 30 weeks for “a month of Sundays”. They explicitly say that the related “a week of Sundays” is seven weeks (my emphasis shown below):

b. a month of Sundays : an indefinitely prolonged or seemingly endless period of time; a very long time. Chiefly in negative contexts, as never (also not) in a month of Sundays : never. Cf. a week of Sundays at week n. Phrases 1c.

c. a week of Sundays : (colloq.) seven Sundays; seven weeks; (hence) a long or indefinite period of time. Often in negative contexts, esp. as not in a week of Sundays: never. Cf. a month of Sundays at Sunday n. and adv. Phrases 2b.

I omitted the lengthy lists of citations, but can provide them if desired.

Wouldn’t argue with the OED – that’s for sure.

I’ve never gotten the implication that Sunday’s are inherently long lasting, tiresome or boring.
They can be restful days, sure, but an unwarranted reputation in the context of this phrase.

@ucme Sure. Love a Sunday.

“Seven Sundays; seven weeks”? That’s a week of Sundays if anything!

Nonsense! I declare “a month of Sundays” is an intentionally nonsensical measure, meant to imply “a long time.”

Fuq the OED! To the barricades! Who’s with me and who wants the guillotine? Huzzah!!

@janbb Is it “Here, here.”? Or is it “Hear, hear.”? I’ve always thought it was the latter, like saying, you better take note of this or listen to this.

Edit: I decided to not be lazy and did a Google, I came up with this answer

@Adagio Hear, hear!

@Adagio You’re absolutely right.