Happy Whatever Day, Mr. President
Feb. 18th, 2008 09:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penfield"All the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway."
- Harry S Truman (American president and hell-giver)
Today is a holiday in my office, so I am happily typing this from my top-secret above-ground lair in my pajamas. So I dare not look a gift vacation day in the mouth. But I've always looked a bit askance at a day that not only seems intentionally vague but doesn't even know where to put its apostrophe.
For example, my Staples (R) 2008 day planner calls it "Presidents' Day." This instinctively seems to be the most grammatically correct option, and implies that it is the holiday belonging to all of the presidents.
The White House "Kids Page", however, offers an entire page on "President's Day" (see the title bar). This construction implies that the holiday belongs to a single president, presumably the current president. As if to support this interpretation, the page is no more than a few years old and therefore coincides both temporally and philosophically with the Bush administration's concentration of executive power.
Looking to another government source, the U.S. House of Representatives schedule calls it "Presidents Day." I immediately assumed that this is a typo, since I'm not sure how to interpret the entire lack of apostrophe. Would it mean that it's a day about all of presidents? We might assume that if it were simply about the presidential office, it would be "President Day" or "White House Day." (According to the U.S. Senate calendar, February 18, 2008 falls within the "State Work Period," which suggests just how seriously they take their golf vacations.)
The distinction between these options is important not just for grammatical purposes, but for representational purposes as well. I remember being taught in elementary school that the holiday was intended to honor both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, perhaps the nation's two greatest leaders, who happened to be born ten days apart. If this is true, then it should be Presidents' Day. Or, if we really wanted to honor them, "Washington-Lincoln Day."
Following that logic, though, it doesn't seem fair that Washington and Lincoln should merit a mere half-holiday each while other individuals like Christopher Columbus and Martin Luther King Jr. (both important figures in U.S. history, but neither the father nor the savior of our nation) get whole holidays to themselves.
If we assume that Presidents' Day applies to all presidents, the term is problematically broad. Are we honoring Franklin Pierce in equal measure with Franklin Delano Roosevelt? And if it's all presidents, do we really include ALL presidents like Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf and Texas Rangers Team President Nolan Ryan?
It is difficult to find an authoritative, unifying source on the matter. The best I could find is my Associated Press style guide, which says:
Presidents Day Not adopted by the federal government as the official name of the Washington's Birthday holiday. However, some federal agencies, states and local governments use the term.
So, there you go. Both the apostrophe and Lincoln are left in the dust. Of course, most school districts observe an entire Presidents Week, during which families honor our country's leaders through trips to Disney World.
Enjoy your Presidents Day today, but remember: the night belongs to the city.
- Harry S Truman (American president and hell-giver)
Today is a holiday in my office, so I am happily typing this from my top-secret above-ground lair in my pajamas. So I dare not look a gift vacation day in the mouth. But I've always looked a bit askance at a day that not only seems intentionally vague but doesn't even know where to put its apostrophe.
For example, my Staples (R) 2008 day planner calls it "Presidents' Day." This instinctively seems to be the most grammatically correct option, and implies that it is the holiday belonging to all of the presidents.
The White House "Kids Page", however, offers an entire page on "President's Day" (see the title bar). This construction implies that the holiday belongs to a single president, presumably the current president. As if to support this interpretation, the page is no more than a few years old and therefore coincides both temporally and philosophically with the Bush administration's concentration of executive power.
Looking to another government source, the U.S. House of Representatives schedule calls it "Presidents Day." I immediately assumed that this is a typo, since I'm not sure how to interpret the entire lack of apostrophe. Would it mean that it's a day about all of presidents? We might assume that if it were simply about the presidential office, it would be "President Day" or "White House Day." (According to the U.S. Senate calendar, February 18, 2008 falls within the "State Work Period," which suggests just how seriously they take their golf vacations.)
The distinction between these options is important not just for grammatical purposes, but for representational purposes as well. I remember being taught in elementary school that the holiday was intended to honor both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, perhaps the nation's two greatest leaders, who happened to be born ten days apart. If this is true, then it should be Presidents' Day. Or, if we really wanted to honor them, "Washington-Lincoln Day."
Following that logic, though, it doesn't seem fair that Washington and Lincoln should merit a mere half-holiday each while other individuals like Christopher Columbus and Martin Luther King Jr. (both important figures in U.S. history, but neither the father nor the savior of our nation) get whole holidays to themselves.
If we assume that Presidents' Day applies to all presidents, the term is problematically broad. Are we honoring Franklin Pierce in equal measure with Franklin Delano Roosevelt? And if it's all presidents, do we really include ALL presidents like Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf and Texas Rangers Team President Nolan Ryan?
It is difficult to find an authoritative, unifying source on the matter. The best I could find is my Associated Press style guide, which says:
Presidents Day Not adopted by the federal government as the official name of the Washington's Birthday holiday. However, some federal agencies, states and local governments use the term.
So, there you go. Both the apostrophe and Lincoln are left in the dust. Of course, most school districts observe an entire Presidents Week, during which families honor our country's leaders through trips to Disney World.
Enjoy your Presidents Day today, but remember: the night belongs to the city.
