# D-Day **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 10, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-day/249590 "2004-06-10T03:16:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mithgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Mithgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithgard)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-day/249590/1 "2004-06-10T03:16:43Z")
Seeing as it was the 60th anniversary, ive been watching a lot of documentaries and movies like Saving Private Ryan and Band of brothers. Now, you can call me uninformed, ignorant, or whatevs, but what exactly does ‘D’ in D-day stand for???/ thanks -Mith ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-day/249590/2 "2004-06-10T03:23:13Z")
It stands for ‘Day.’ During the planning, before they nailed down the exact time and date, they referred to the moment of the invasion as “D-Day at H-Hour.” ---
**Author:** ![Mithgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Mithgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithgard)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-day/249590/3 "2004-06-10T03:46:48Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > It stands for ‘Day.’ During the planning, before they nailed down the exact time and date, they referred to the moment of the invasion as “D-Day at H-Hour.” ahhh…so that explains why i have heard it reffered to as "day of days’ as well 😃 Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-day/249590/4 "2004-06-10T04:52:56Z")
No, that’s not quite it actually, it doesn’t stand for anything, certainly not “day”. But **Friedo** was right to say it was just a way of designating as a reference point the day the landing (or any large operation) would take place, without having decided on an actual date yet. So you could say “by D+3 we plan to have 200,000 men ashore” which is true no matter when the actual invasion occurs (the date was not decided til the day before it happened), whereas if you said “by June 9th we plan to have 200,000 men ashore” you’d have to keep changing the date in that document as the event got postponed. “Day of days” is an entirely separate phrase meaning something like “the most significant day”. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-day/249590/5 "2004-06-10T06:14:34Z")
‘D’ = ‘Day’ certainly corresponds with the French name, _Le Jour J_ ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-day/249590/6 "2004-06-10T10:32:55Z")
This question was raised in the letters page of the local free newspaper a couple of days ago. One retired army chap wrote in, confirming the above, and adding that the specific time was labelled H-Hour “so that we wouldn’t be starting at T-Time”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-day/249590/7 "2004-06-10T12:23:33Z")
This is from Codeword Dictionary, a brilliantly written book, a classic, if you buy only one codeword book, please let this one be it. 🙂 Copyright me: “D Day” The term used in planning for an as yet unspecified date on which military operations will begin. The time operations will begin is called “H Hour.” The first use of this term seems to have been in an operations order issued on 7 September 1918 by the American Expeditionary Force in France. The “D Day” designation is so convenient in military planning that its use has become universal. The most famous “D Day” is 6 June 1944 when the Allies invaded Normandy (OVERLORD). In the post-war era, to avoid confusion with the OVERLORD invasion, some military operations have avoided the “D Day” designation. The Allied invasion of Iraq and Kuwait began on “G Day.” ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-day/249590/8 "2004-06-10T12:48:36Z")
To answer the unasked question from **Paul** ’s post above, “G Day” stood for the day the GROUND assault began. Air combat had been underway for many week, thank goodness. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-day/249590/9 "2004-06-10T14:57:08Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > …adding that the specific time was labelled H-Hour “so that we wouldn’t be starting at T-Time”. 😃 I guess that was a pun, but rockets do launch at T-Time. “T minus 10 minutes” means 10 minutes before liftoff. ---
**Author:** ![Mithgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Mithgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithgard)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-day/249590/10 "2004-06-10T15:59:30Z")
ahhh ok, its all starting to make sense now =) Thanks fellas -MIth ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-day/249590/11 "2004-06-10T16:15:00Z")
I never heard of G Day, it sounds more like the start of an Aussie invasion. I think Z (for zero) would make more sense. We load the boats at Z minus 2 days, we’ll have the beach secured by Z + 8 hours or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![alimarx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@alimarx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alimarx)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-day/249590/12 "2004-06-10T16:28:43Z")
I remember as a kid, seeing an ad on TV for the movie “D-Day”, and thinking, with war being so scary and all, that it was someone stuttering from fear. “Oh n-n-no, it’s d-d-day!!” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2004, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-day/249590/13 "2004-06-10T18:50:22Z")
For the rest of WWII at least, the start of major operations was often labled “X-day”. ---
**Author:** ![Clark\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@Clark\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_K)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-day/249590/14 "2004-06-11T02:15:39Z")
When did the term catch on in popular usage? Were people chatting about “D-Day” on June 7, or did they first talk about the “the allied invasion of Europe”? Is it something that caught on quickly or only after soldiers came home and popularized the military term? ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2004, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-day/249590/15 "2004-06-11T16:09:17Z")
> [@Clark K](#): > > When did the term catch on in popular usage? > > Were people chatting about “D-Day” on June 7, or did they first talk about the “the allied invasion of Europe”? Is it something that caught on quickly or only after soldiers came home and popularized the military term? The phrase was in use well _before_ the invasion. Just did a quick search and found a NY Times article on May 12, 1944 titled “Vast Supply Machine is Geared for Invasion: Output of American Factories Piles Up in Britain to Await D-Day” The Washington Post had an assesment of the European air campaign on January 15, 1944 called “As D-Day Nears.”