I’m watching World Wrestling Entertainment’s first “Tribute to the Troops” show, which was called “Christmas in Baghdad” back then in 2003. One of the wrestlers said, “Since 9/11, there have been no further terrorist attacks on our soil, and it’s partly due to the hard work these soldiers put in”, or something along those lines.
When were the 9/11 attacks first called “nine-eleven”? I’m not surprised that it was part of the lexicon by 2003, but when was the first reference? Within days? Weeks?
September 12th, 2001
Pretty much immediately after. It was covered on the news 24/7 for for about 3 months after. They said “September 11th” or 9/11 in probably every other sentence.
around 10am Eastern Time on 9/11/01
It basically started as a placeholder, until the government/media/public could come up with a better name, but it very quickly took a life of its own.
On 11/9
This is what I remember. On the day of, I don’t remember people feeling a need to even name it. And it would be weird to refer to the September 11 attack when it’s still September 11. But talk of the connection to 911 happened early.
It also had precedent with the 7/7 attack in London.
Except that the 7/7 attack on London was four years later.
And the date worked well because:
And the date also corresponds with the 9-1-1 emergency system, a fact the hijackers had to be aware of.
I think in a thread at some point we talked about the coincidence of the date and the 911 emergency number. In many countries dates are written as DD/MM, and so they would use 11/9 rather than 9/11. And I think they chose that date more because it was a Tuesday, when planes are less full and so the planes were easier to hijack. So I really doubt they were going for any sort of connection there.
I always thought there was another connection: it was Primary Election Day in many states. Given the contempt these Islamists hold for democracy & voting, they probably felt that day was appropriate.
It was also the first day of school in NYC. So between that and the primary election, many people were not at the office that day. That probably reduced the number of casualties. (On a normal day, with the tourists around, there were probably tens of thousands of people in those buildings.)
I thought there was also a possible connection to some battle having to do with the Caliphate? Some historical event obscure (obviously) to me, but possibly having great meaning to the hijackers.
Did none of the material seized from Bin Laden shed any light on why 9/11 (or 11/9)? Or is that all non-public still?
It was the day of the election for mayor of New York City, not any any national or state-wide elections that I know of.
It was Primary Election Day here in Minnesota, for Mayors of Minneapolis & St. Paul, and a whole lot of local offices.
Why on earth were they starting school so late? I went to school in Pennsylvania from 1974 to 1987 and never once started later than the last Tuesday of August. Even our college semesters started before Labor Day. Was there something going on that year or is this normal?
School always starts in NYC after Labor Day - and sometimes Rosh Hashanah affects the start date. For example, in 2015, school started on Wed September 9 and was closed on the 14 and 15 for Rosh Hashanah. In 2013 , Labor day was Sept 2, Rosh Hashanah was Sept 5 & 6 and school stared Sept 9. But summer vacation also starts later than you are probably used to- the last day of school is usually around June 26
If they had studied the long-term weather patterns of the New York and Washington areas, would there have been data to suggest that early-to-mid September offered the greatest chance (or even a great chance) that skies would be calm and crystal clear?
doreen, you have fought ignorance today! Thanks for your answer. Rosh Hashanah is completely off my radar and it would never even occur to me that the holiday would affect school schedules. Growing up in a mill town in Western PA, my experience was worlds apart from NYC. And yeah, we’d complain loudly if school went past the first week of June.