# Do you consider Sunday or Monday the beginning of the week? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 21, 2006, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266 "2006-11-21T08:50:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bundykala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@bundykala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bundykala)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/1 "2006-11-21T08:50:21Z")
I’ve always had it set firmly in my head that Monday is the beginning of the week. I’m aware that many people consider Sunday to be the first day of the week. I’ve always assumed this was just a matter of preference, though Google sources tell me it’s a cultural/religious thing. But that’s not the point. I want to know what day _you_ start your week with. The logic behind your preference would be valued, of course. What say you, Dopers? ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/2 "2006-11-21T08:55:45Z")
Neither. I’m usually off work Wednesday and Thursday, so Friday is the beginning of the week in my mind. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/3 "2006-11-21T08:57:19Z")
Definitely Sunday. Maybe at least slightly because our work-week here **is** Sunday-\>Thursday… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/4 "2006-11-21T09:28:12Z")
I was always told Sunday was the beginning of the week, but for me really it’s Monday that makes more sense. If there are seven days in the week, and we start the list with Monday, doesn’t that logically make Monday the first day of the week? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/5 "2006-11-21T09:39:43Z")
To me, it depends on the context: Sunday is the beginning of the calendar week; the calendar week is seven days long. Monday is the beginning of the working week, but the working week is five days long and is followed by the weekend (a separate entity), which begins on Saturday. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/6 "2006-11-21T10:08:00Z")
We use the word “week_end_” to mean Saturday and Sunday. So the week starts on Monday. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/7 "2006-11-21T11:01:02Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] We use the word “week_end_” to mean Saturday and Sunday. So the week starts on Monday. [/QUOTE] Someone always comes along and steals what I had planned to say. No wonder I have so few posts on this board. Sob. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/8 "2006-11-21T12:12:42Z")
Monday! ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/9 "2006-11-21T12:16:06Z")
Monday ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/10 "2006-11-21T12:43:19Z")
Sunday. I had a debate with my Bulgarian tutor about this, cause Eastern Europeans all consider Monday to be the first day of the week. All the calendars have Monday as the first day. I was delighted when I received a 2007 calendar from Australia from one of the Dopers as part of my postcard project that has Sunday as the first day of the week. I can’t wait for January so I can point to it as proof that I am NOT crazy and Sunday really IS the first day of the week, hahaha! ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/11 "2006-11-21T12:54:01Z")
Monday. Besides, if you’re going to get religious on this, in Genesis it’s said that God rested on the seventh day. Since we consider Sunday that seventh day (at least in Christianity) Sunday should be the last day of the week, not the first. On the other hand, the calendar looks nice and symmetrical with Sunday as the first day. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/12 "2006-11-21T13:11:29Z")
[QUOTE=Jayn\_Newell] Monday. Besides, if you’re going to get religious on this, in Genesis it’s said that God rested on the seventh day. Since we consider Sunday that seventh day (at least in Christianity) Sunday should be the last day of the week, not the first. [/QUOTE] That’s all wrong; Christianity didn’t start considering Sunday to be the seventh day, it just moved the day of rest from the seventh day to the first day. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/13 "2006-11-21T13:20:16Z")
It still doesn’t explain why U.S. calendars almost always have Sunday first, and yet everyone considers Sunday part of the weekend. (Although the default mode of MS Outlook begins the week on Monday, so they can put Sat. and Sun. together to save space, I suppose.) ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/14 "2006-11-21T13:25:51Z")
[QUOTE=guizot] It still doesn’t explain why U.S. calendars almost always have Sunday first, and yet everyone considers Sunday part of the weekend. (Although the default mode of MS Outlook begins the week on Monday, so they can put Sat. and Sun. together to save space, I suppose.) [/QUOTE] U.S. calendars have Sunday first because Western tradition has considered Sunday to be the first day of the week for a couple thousand years; everyone considers Sunday to be part of “the weekend” because labor agitators during the Industrial Revolution were eventually able to convince everyone that the norm should be that people get two days in a row off from work every week; Sunday was the traditional day when even sweatshop workers might (for religious reasons) be given time off, and Saturday was added on to that. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/15 "2006-11-21T13:41:33Z")
If I was answering a quiz and the question was “What’s the first day of the week?” I would say “Sunday.” But for practical purposes, I think of Monday as the first day of the work week. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/16 "2006-11-21T13:48:39Z")
Since I work on Saturdays, I think of Sunday as the start of the week. When I come home on Saturday, I always think “Another week done.” ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/17 "2006-11-21T13:58:14Z")
I was taught that in the US it’s Sunday, in Europe it’s Monday. And I believe it. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/18 "2006-11-21T15:34:56Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] We use the word “week_end_” to mean Saturday and Sunday. So the week starts on Monday. [/QUOTE] My logic exactly! And if I were Christian, I’d also go with the “God rested on the seventh day, which is Sunday” argument for having Monday as the start of the week. FWIW, I was taught that Sunday was the first day of the week, so I don’t think it’s a US/Europe thing. And if I was answering a quiz question, I’d complain that it was a bad question :). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/19 "2006-11-21T16:02:04Z")
[QUOTE=Dead Cat] My logic exactly! And if I were Christian, I’d also go with the “God rested on the seventh day, which is Sunday” argument for having Monday as the start of the week. [/QUOTE] I don’t wish to labour the point, but how would that argument make any sense at all?, given that we know for a fact that Christians changed the rest day from Saturday to Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![tbdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@tbdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tbdi)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266/20 "2006-11-21T16:26:10Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] We use the word “week_end_” to mean Saturday and Sunday. So the week starts on Monday. [/QUOTE] Ahh, but a week of seven days has two ends just like a piece of string has two ends and “the weekend” is a collective noun that includes the end end of one week and the begin end of the next. Ok… I got nothing… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-consider-sunday-or-monday-the-beginning-of-the-week/381266.md?page=2)