# I pit the following "cutesy" holiday nicknames **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 24, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942 "2011-11-24T01:44:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/1 "2011-11-24T01:44:55Z")
Every year around we have to listen to TV commentators, DJs, and stupid people in general who think they’re being clever or witty by referring to holidays by the same insipid nicknames people have been using for decades. It’s time for us to stop using terms like; **Turkey Day**. This is the kind of name for a holiday that a five year old would come up with. It sounds like you forgot what Thanksgiving was called or you were trying to explain it to space aliens. Cut it out. **Black Friday**. When I was a kid all we ever called it was “the day after Thanksgiving”. How the ad industry conned everyone into calling it this I’ll never know. Frankly, a name like that makes me think I’ll catch some kind of pestilence if I go shopping. **Cyber Monday**. I refuse to believe that this is a thing. And that it doesn’t involve masturbating on Skype. **Fat Tuesday**. Yes, we KNOW that’s what “Mardi Gras” means in English. It doesn’t make you smart to point it out and it’s not any more clever than saying you’re celebrating Fifth of May, or Hallowed Eve, or Fifty-Days. **The unofficial beginning/end of summer**. You’re off by about a month in either direction. **Spring Forward/Fall Back**. It’s been about 70 years since people had to have it explained to them how DST works. Let’s stop pretending that something we’ve been doing twice a year our entire lives, and which in this day of auto-synching clocks, watches, computers and phoned requires NO EFFORT WHATSOEVER for most people, is some novel event involving arcane sorcery. **Patriot’s Day**. I’m thankful that this one hasn’t caught on, but I suspect that’s only because Madison Avenue hasn’t figured out a way to entice the public down to their big 9/11 sale at Macy’s. Thoughts/additions? ---
**Author:** ![Cap\_n\_Obvious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@Cap\_n\_Obvious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Obvious)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/2 "2011-11-24T01:52:01Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > **Black Friday**. When I was a kid all we ever called it was “the day after Thanksgiving”. How the ad industry conned everyone into calling it this I’ll never know. Frankly, a name like that makes me think I’ll catch some kind of pestilence if I go shopping. Black Friday is an apt name if you’ve ever worked retail. It’s like Satan decided to pick one day of the year to manifest in the retail world, and this was it. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/3 "2011-11-24T02:03:30Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > **Patriot’s Day**. I’m thankful that this one hasn’t caught on, but I suspect that’s only because Madison Avenue hasn’t figured out a way to entice the public down to their big 9/11 sale at Macy’s. Technically, this 9/11 “holiday” is called “Patriot Day” as per Public Law 107-89. Not to be confused with the real “Patriot’s/Patriots’ Day”, observed in April as a state holiday in Massachusetts (in which it coincides with the Boston Marathon) and Maine. I agree that “Patriot Day” is a stupid name for 9/11, and considering that it’s been officially designated that way since 2002 but most people still never call it that, it seems that the vast majority of Americans concur. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/4 "2011-11-24T02:19:23Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > **Cyber Monday**. I refuse to believe that this is a thing. And that it doesn’t involve masturbating on Skype. Incidentally, when _did_ people stop using cyber to mean online sex? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/5 "2011-11-24T02:19:29Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > **Fat Tuesday**. Yes, we KNOW that’s what “Mardi Gras” means in English. I’ve never heard it called Fat Tuesday in English here. The more common names are Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday. > [@Smapti](#): > > **Spring Forward/Fall Back**. That doesn’t get used here because we use Autumn rather then Fall, but I don’t have a problem with a pithy phrase to help people remember which way the clocks should go. In my experience many people have trouble remembering this, even though it’s been happening twice a year for many years. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/6 "2011-11-24T02:22:35Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > **Spring Forward/Fall Back**. It’s been about 70 years since people had to have it explained to them how DST works. Let’s stop pretending that something we’ve been doing twice a year our entire lives, and which in this day of auto-synching clocks, watches, computers and phoned requires NO EFFORT WHATSOEVER for most people, is some novel event involving arcane sorcery. I really don’t get this at all. **Spring Forward/Fall Back** isn’t a holiday or even two. It’s a mnemonic device. What’s wrong with summarizing it thus? And not everyone changes their clocks. And not everyone does it on the same day. The phrase is quite handy to me for figuring out what time it’s going to be somewhere else. > [@](#): > > **Fat Tuesday.** Yes, we KNOW that’s what “Mardi Gras” means in English. It doesn’t make you smart to point it out and it’s not any more clever than saying you’re celebrating Fifth of May, or Hallowed Eve, or Fifty-Days. The day has gone by this name in English for centuries. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/7 "2011-11-24T02:34:28Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > **Turkey Day**. This is the kind of name for a holiday that a five year old would come up with. It sounds like you forgot what Thanksgiving was called or you were trying to explain it to space aliens. Cut it out. Cut it out? ☹ 😕 I just sent out several emails to my brother and some friends with “Happy Turkey Day!” as the subject. As a five year old at heart, my response to you is, “You’re not the boss of me!”😃 ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/8 "2011-11-24T02:58:04Z")
Meh, none of those get my undies in a wad, not worth the effort. The shorthand “Xmuh” for Christmas makes me twitch a bit though, as does the playing of Christmas music etc before Turkey…uh, Thanksgiving Day. Also not fond of the “happy holidays” thing - it just sounds so forced, somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/9 "2011-11-24T03:28:16Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > The more common names are Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday. Or here in Chicago, some of us call it [Pączki Day](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%85czki)! (Now pardon me while I go drool quietly.) ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/10 "2011-11-24T03:38:48Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > **Spring Forward/Fall Back**. It’s been about 70 years since people had to have it explained to them how DST works. Let’s stop pretending that something we’ve been doing twice a year our entire lives, and which in this day of auto-synching clocks, watches, computers and phoned requires NO EFFORT WHATSOEVER for most people, is some novel event involving arcane sorcery. Jeez, do you get this snarky at people who have to go “thirty days hath September…”? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/11 "2011-11-24T04:12:52Z")
And don’t _even_ get me started on “righty tighty, lefty loosey!” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/12 "2011-11-24T04:17:25Z")
I gather “Bunny Day” is right out, then? ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/13 "2011-11-24T04:56:47Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > **Cyber Monday**. I refuse to believe that this is a thing. And that it doesn’t involve masturbating on Skype. > > \ > > What? When is that? I live under a rock, but that is a day that I would enjoy! > > **Spring Forward/Fall Back**. It’s been about 70 years since people had to have it explained to them how DST works. Let’s stop pretending that something we’ve been doing twice a year our entire lives, and which in this day of auto-synching clocks, watches, computers and phoned requires NO EFFORT WHATSOEVER for most people, is some novel event involving arcane sorcery. > > \ > > Not all of us do that sort of silly thing. When you folks change your time, it takes me a while to remember. And then, when I’ve finally got it, you flipping change it again. Please stop doing that. > > **Patriot’s Day**. I’m thankful that this one hasn’t caught on, but I suspect that’s only because Madison Avenue hasn’t figured out a way to entice the public down to their big 9/11 sale at Macy’s. I guess I thought that we were attacked on Patriot’s day because of its name. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/14 "2011-11-24T07:37:21Z")
> [@Cap\_n\_Obvious](#): > > Black Friday is an apt name if you’ve ever worked retail. It’s like Satan decided to pick one day of the year to manifest in the retail world, and this was it. Speaking of which, is it too early to pit Black Friday shoppers for acting like a bunch of animals, or should we wait until the inevitable frenzied stampede? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Niply\_Elder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/15 "2011-11-24T07:49:18Z")
No it’s not too early. Let’s go ahead and pit them now, seeing as though some of them will be rampaging like bonobos in 24h15m in the west coast… Sheesh. Midnight madness? Seriously? Shall we start a thing? Like Black Friday Midnight Madness… ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/16 "2011-11-24T12:09:26Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Speaking of which, is it too early to pit Black Friday shoppers for acting like a bunch of animals, or should we wait until the inevitable frenzied stampede? It’s not too early to pit the shoppers AND the retailers for this madness. I especially pit the retailers, though, especially the ones who are open on Thanksgiving. I’ve done all my Xmas shopping, and my freezer and pantry are full. This year, again, I won’t be shopping for ANYTHING except perishable staples like milk and eggs. I will be staying out of just about every store. I will especially avoid shopping today and tomorrow and throughout the weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/17 "2011-11-24T14:21:57Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > **Spring Forward/Fall Back**. It’s been about 70 years since people had to have it explained to them how DST works. Let’s stop pretending that something we’ve been doing twice a year our entire lives, and which in this day of auto-synching clocks, watches, computers and phoned requires NO EFFORT WHATSOEVER for most people, is some novel event involving arcane sorcery. Well, I guess I’m not “most people”. My watch as well as the clocks in my microwave, oven and bedroom need to be manually set (my oven clock is even analog! OMG!), and as as been said already, “spring forward, fall back” is a useful mnemonic. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/18 "2011-11-24T14:31:33Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > It’s not too early to pit the shoppers AND the retailers for this madness. I especially pit the retailers, though, especially the ones who are open on Thanksgiving. > > I’ve done all my Xmas shopping, and my freezer and pantry are full. This year, again, I won’t be shopping for ANYTHING except perishable staples like milk and eggs. I will be staying out of just about every store. I will especially avoid shopping today and tomorrow and throughout the weekend. Can I +1 this w/o being Pitted by someone? I should Pit the OP for using the word “cutesy” in a subject line. It just a cuter way of saying cute. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/19 "2011-11-24T14:32:37Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > **The unofficial beginning/end of summer**. You’re off by about a month in either direction. The “official” beginnings have no bearing on the seasons as we experience them (weather, school, etc.), and there’s a fair question in why the astronomical demarcations became the “real” seasons instead of a special use of the terms. The answer is that calendars just started putting “first day of winter” on there and people believed it, and it is now so ingrained that people will raise their voices about it. Outside of the U.S. few nations bother with the technical/specialized seasons, though – most of the world goes with the meteorological seasons, as the U.S. used to. There is no necessity to call the solstices and equinoxes the “real” first days of the seasons. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942/20 "2011-11-24T14:59:44Z")
Spring Forward/Fall Back – I heard several people complaining about Daylight Saving Time a few weeks ago – “Stupid DST! Now it’s dark!” etc. They seemed not to know that it had just ENDED. Moreover, I even saw people complaining about the lost hour. Apparently they didn’t even know the effect of turning their clocks back an hour was to GIVE them an hour. People can be astonishingly stupid and I guess they do need that mnemonic if they can’t even sort out when DST is or think that they lose an hour when they turn their clocks back. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-following-cutesy-holiday-nicknames/603942.md?page=2)