Philosophy Now Forum

Philosophy Explorer wrote:

vegetariantaxidermy wrote:

Philosophy Explorer wrote:
Most definitions agree with that. Learner's Dictionary says:

"A special day of celebration."

PhilX

Oh well, if Marion Webster said that then it must be true.

Merriam-Webster and their definition says a holiday means businesses close.

PhilX

I Googled 'Learner' dictionary and it said it's something that belongs to a Mrs. Marion Webster.

vegetariantaxidermy wrote:

Philosophy Explorer wrote:

vegetariantaxidermy wrote: Oh well, if Marion Webster said that then it must be true.

Merriam-Webster and their definition says a holiday means businesses close.

PhilX

I Googled 'Learner' dictionary and it said it's something that belongs to a Mrs. Marion Webster.

Here's their link:

http://learnersdictionary.com

Do a search for holiday at their website.

PhilX

Philosophy Explorer wrote:
Being that this is the trend now in the US, a holiday is a celebration of tradition (for your country you'll have to tell me what is a holiday).

PhilX

We have something called bonfire night: People light a bonfire in their back garden and sit round it pretending they are enjoying themselves. It's something to do with Guy Fawkes. We don't get a day off work for it, so it is not classed as a holiday. Easter is a holiday, we get two days off work for that.

Philosophy Explorer wrote:

vegetariantaxidermy wrote:

Philosophy Explorer wrote:
Merriam-Webster and their definition says a holiday means businesses close.

PhilX

I Googled 'Learner' dictionary and it said it's something that belongs to a Mrs. Marion Webster.

Here's their link:

http://learnersdictionary.com

Do a search for holiday at their website.

PhilX

That link only took me to a picture of a monkey wearing a propeller cap, pleasuring himself. Not funny.

Really, everyone? Halloween and arguing the definitions for holiday? Is that all we could come up with?

What is stupidity? What qualifies as stupid? How is something stupidest? Does April Fools Day have a place in this discussion?

I say we're not done here.

commonsense wrote:Really, everyone? Halloween and arguing the definitions for holiday? Is that all we could come up with?

What is stupidity? What qualifies as stupid? How is something stupidest? Does April Fools Day have a place in this discussion?

I say we're not done here.

I submit Dyngus day. Buffalo NY claims to be the Dyngus day capitol of the world, which is pretty strange since it originates from Poland/Ukraine area.
Sadly the banks do not take that day off, so it doesn't count. Nor do they close for Pi day or Star-Wars day. What has the world come to??

A bank holiday is what makes it official. My business takes Black Friday off (as do most non-retail businesses), but the banks do not, so it's not a holiday.

What does Dyngus Day celebrate? How is it celebrated?

I would say Groundhog Day since they started calling him Punxsutawney Phil when it used to be Punxsutawney Pete, and stupid people would argue with me about the name.

thedoc wrote:and stupid people would argue with me

I wonder what drew them to you.

The stupidest days are those that are not holidays! Ever larger chunks of work are being performed by machines, and there's increasingly not enough full-time work to keep most people living well.

It's time we found ways to keep people living well while working less rather than questioning the logic of giving working people little treats - tastes of actual life rather than the interminable job treadmill. As the cliché goes, no one on their deathbed ever wished they spent more time at the office.

commonsense wrote:What does Dyngus Day celebrate? How is it celebrated?

Who cares?

Harbal wrote:

thedoc wrote:and stupid people would argue with me

I wonder what drew them to you.

Because I was a lot smarter than they were, and they wanted to learn something.

commonsense wrote:What does Dyngus Day celebrate? How is it celebrated?

Sort of a Catholic origin, a somewhat Valentine's day attitude at the end of Lent.
Celebrated by a whapping of your lady love with a pussy-willow branch, coupled with spraying her with water. The florists all run out of pussy-willow branches on the day in areas where it is celebrated. Over-exuberant celebration includes whole buckets of water, not just a reasonable squirting.
On pi day, you eat pie of course, or anything else that is round.
On the eve of Cinco de Mayo (a Mexican-American holiday similar to the Irish St Patrick's day), we have the unrelated Star Wars day, which is sort of proof that the holidays are getting so numerous that they're consuming adjacent days. Not exactly sure how its supposed to be celebrated. You're encouraged to innovate.

thedoc wrote:I would say Groundhog Day since they started calling him Punxsutawney Phil when it used to be Punxsutawney Pete, and stupid people would argue with me about the name.

Why did the day become stupid when they switched to Phil? It implies it wasn't stupid when it was Pete.

I may have taken out Pete. I was on the highway just going into PA from ML right around there and saw him, and knew he was going to bolt right in front of me. Having another vehicle close to my right and one behind, I never broke speed and it is the largest thing I've ever killed to date.
OK, Pete was actually before my time, so maybe it wasn't him specifically, but his great-nephew or something.