By Dennis Jamison | Washington Times
Calendars are useful tools. However, they sometimes create more confusion than clarification over dates designated as holidays. Holidays are good, but if one does not really know what the celebration is about, can such a special day be truly appreciated?
An excellent example of such confusion is the present day remembrance of George Washington’s Birthday. The third Monday of February has legally been designated by the United States’ Congress as a day to remember the birthday of George Washington and some calendars will accurately designate it so. However, other calendars depict the third Monday in February as “Presidents Day” and others reference the day as “Presidents’ Day.” To make it even more confusing, there are yet other calendars that refer to this day as “President’s Day!” It should not be that difficult to sort out the simple recognition of George Washington’s Birthday.
So, what’s the big deal? Well, for one thing, English punctuation is important and it sends messages to those able to decipher the subtle distinctions. If U.S. citizens are celebrating “Presidents Day,” they are in fact celebrating or honoring all the other presidents of the United States along with good old George Washington. This is because without any apostrophe, the “s” at the end of the word presidents designates a plural reality. This means to the careful reader that the holiday is a celebration of all forty plus former presidents and the current occupant of the White House.
