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Your "weekend" guide
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There’s a question that comes up among writers and editors a few times a year during a week like this one. This week, for example, it goes something like this: “Is ‘Presidents’ Day weekend’ capitalized?” When a three-day weekend is approaching, our team has noticed over the years that people need clarification about whether “weekend” is capitalized after the holiday name. It’s come up so often that all of our style guide entries covering holidays commonly associated with long weekends, such as Memorial Day and Thanksgiving, now address the question. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the answer about each holiday weekend is the same: You should not capitalize “weekend.” So check that off your list for all the holiday weekends this year and reserve your energy this weekend for worrying about apostrophe placement. Have a great Presidents’ Day weekend! ❤ Team Stylebot
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Hone your writing skills and never use "hone in" again. Get writing tips, have fun with words and learn something new in a one-minute read each week by signing up for Stylebot’s newsletter.
If you waited with bated breath last week for the Ides of March to pass, you can thank Shakespeare. We already told you that he gets the credit for the lasting power of the Ides of March as a bad omen. He's also responsible for keeping bait's homophone "bate" around in another enduring phrase. We don't use "bate" very much anymore, but it came about in the 1300s to mean "to diminish" (and yes, its origins are tied to a shorter version of "abate," which is still commonly used today)....
Today is Friday the 13th, the second one of the year. And if today's association with bad luck isn't enough for you, then look no further than Sunday's bad omen: the Ides of March. So what do we make of these two inauspicious days? The origins of Friday the 13th being unlucky are hard to pin down, though Christianity and Norse mythology regard 13 as an unlucky number of dinner guests, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica. Britannica also points to other biblical references that regard Friday...
If you've been watching hockey this season or you're gearing up for this year's World Cup, you're likely familiar with the term hat trick. And if you're not, here you go: It's when one player scores three goals in one game. It's commonly associated with hockey and soccer, but it can apply to other sports, as well as to a series of three victories. But there are no hats in soccer, and hockey players wear helmets. So why the "hat"? "Hat trick" made its sports debut in cricket. When a bowler...