WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Grammar Minute: The Most Grammatically Confusing Holiday

Episode Date: February 20, 2024

President's Day. Presidents' Day. Presidents Day. This holiday has long stumped grammarians, and in fact, the correct spelling depends on exactly what you want to celebrate. Learn more on today's episode of Grammar Minute!

Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we're saving the English language 60 seconds at a time. I'm Lauren Smith, and yesterday was President's Day in the U.S., which makes today a great day to talk about apostrophies. The exact spelling of President's Day varies by state, because some people think they're celebrating George Washington's birthday. In this case, President is singular, and the spelling is President Apostrophe S to signify one president. Other people think they're celebrating all the presidents. In this case, presidents is plural, so the apostrophe is attached after the S to signify that the day belongs to multiple presidents. Some people don't think this day belongs to the presidents at all. Instead, they use presidents as an adjective to describe day.

In this case, there's no apostrophe. Officially, all of these variants are wrong. The U.S. government calls the day Washington's birthday. That's your Grammar Minute. Visit Thegrammerminut.com for more tips and tricks.