Tomorrow is President's Day. Or is it Presidents' Day?
When I was in school, we celebrated Washington's birthday and Lincoln's birthday; two separate holidays in February. At that time, the days were celebrated on the actual birth day (date). Washington's actual birthday was February 22 and Lincoln's was February 12.
Several attempts were made to create on generic "President's Day". Obviously, we can't have a holiday for every President, can we? Actually, many we want to forget.
In any case, along came the Uniform Monday Holiday Act which puts many holidays on a Monday to avoid confusion and give people a three-day weekend. The third Monday of February was chosen, between the two men's birthdays. But, the holiday was still called, "Washington's Birthday".
It was later changed to Presidents Day to honor the office of President. Some states still honor Lincoln on his birthday, but that goes state-by-state.
The spelling of the day is up for grabs. It can be found in the dictionary three different ways; with the apostrophe before the "s" (one President), after the "s" (more than one President), or without an apostrophe. I think the first two are fine depending on the meaning. The third, which is the current style in the AP Stylebook (followed by most journalists) is incorrect. Oh well, what do I know.
Happy President(s) Day.
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