I was impressed by an ad from Staples recently. The email campaign offered a “sneak peek” at Presidents’ Day deals. Way to go, Staples.
I was so impressed by the company’s use of “s’” and the correct spelling of “peek” that I will ignore the random and inconsistent use of capital letters in the words “Weekly Ad” and “Dollar days”.
First, the Presidents and Their Day
In George Washington’s final year as President, his birthday – February 22 – was declared a holiday. In 1832, Americans began celebrating the day as a National holiday, presumably with “Amazing Close-out Deals on Horses and Buggies!! Every Equine Must Go!!”
In 1865, the year after President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, many states began honoring his birthday, February 12, as well, although it wasn’t a federal holiday.
In 1971, like a cheap parent who throws one birthday party for two children born in the same month, President Richard Nixon combined Lincoln and Washington’s birthdays into one federal holiday: Presidents’ Day.
Since the holiday honors two past Presidents, the apostrophe follows the s. Workers in states that previously recognized Lincoln’s birthday as a holiday were cheated out of an extra day off work, but the rest of us now enjoy the consistency of a three-day weekend in the third week of February. Well, except us freelancers who schedule our own time off, of course, and are left bemoaning the lack of mail delivery on Presidents’ Day.
Sneak Peek
In addition to its appropriate use of Presidents’ Day, Staples skipped another common grammatical gaffe in its recent ad. The company accurately wrote “Sneak Peek.” Too many people think that an early look is a “sneak peak.” But it’s not. A peak is on a mountain. It is the pinnacle, the top.
Nobody wants to pay “peak rates,” on anything, so why associate the word with an ad that promises low prices?
The correct use of “peek” is all too easy to remember, which is, perhaps, why it piques me so much when people misspell it. When you peek at something, you see it. You take a look. “See” uses double e’s, and so does peek. “Look” also has a double vowel.
Peak, Peek, Pique
I couldn’t resist sneaking another homonym into that previous paragraph. Pique, pronounced the same as peak and peek, means to offend or, more commonly, to arouse interest, to excite.
“Mind your P’s and Q’s or you’ll pique my irritation.”
“My short history of Presidents’ Day in a grammar blog was intended to pique your interest.”
Now, I hope my challenge will pique your creativity. Write one sentence using pique, peak and peek. Then let us have a peek in the comments section.
Presidents’ Day??? with a (‘)???? Hmmm….,it is called Presidents Day because it refers to multi-presidents…but it is NOT a day that they own. Why a possessive?
It’s a PLURAL…therefore NO apostrophe!”Presidents Day” That’s it…a plural does not require any special punctuation. “All Saints Church” ; “Players Association”. It refers to more than one, but it does not refer to possession.
“Veterans Day” Not possessive, because the vets do not own it.
Give it some thought…I know I can’t find many converts, but I sit with my dictionary and my “Chicago Manual of Style” It falls under “attributive nouns”.
Carpenters Union; Consumers groups. Presidents Day
Bob H.
Hmm… I would write Carpenters’ Union… Writers’ guidelines (since they’re for more than one writer, although many writers believe the guidelines don’t apply to them.)
I find myself disagreeing quite often with the Chicago Manual — especially when it contradicts common usage. Valentine’s Day (a day honoring St. Valentine), St. Patrick’s Day (which I have never seen without the apostrophe).
However, this is what makes grammar so interesting! Thanks for your input, Bob.
Readers, what do you think about the Presidents Day/Presidents’ Day debate?
It would seem logical to simply go to the statute or Executive Order that established the day as a federal holiday, and just be consistent with that. One problem. There is no official federal holiday known as Presidents’ Day–with or without the apostrophe. There’s only Washington’s birthday.
The story about Nixon bundling Lincoln’s and Washington’s birthdays in 1971 is widespread, but a myth. All he did in 1971 was to standardize the celebration of Washington’s birthday on the third Monday of February in order to comply with the 1968 3-day federal holiday law. Lincoln’s birthday was never a federal holiday. But many schools celebrated it, and some states gave government employees a day off on Lincoln’s birthday. Having two holidays so close together was a problem. (This year, it was just 3 days apart.) So those states combined them. It caught on, especially with retailers and advertisers. (I would imagine retailers in the deep South didn’t find “Lincoln’s Birthday” a helpful marketing tool.)
With retailers and advertisers in charge of the apostrophes, it’s amazing it’s not written as Pres’ident’s’ Day–variously encased in quotation marks and studded with exclamation points.
All to say…I enjoyed your article. The good ones encourage us to think and question. Yours did.
Kathryn,
(Re: Nixon.) I’m disappointed; it’s such a cool story it makes one wish it were true.
Thanks for your feedback AND your kind words. That will teach me to believe what I read on the Internet.
BTW, you get the award for the best deadpan, understatement line in a blog comment: I would imagine retailers in the deep South didn’t find “Lincoln’s Birthday” a helpful marketing tool.
I truly did laugh out loud!
Thanks for visiting! Come back often! (Must sign off, as I’ve run out of exclamation points…)