Last night, I watched a show on the History channel about Thanksgiving, which reminded me why I should just stick to HBO series and America’s Next Top Model. I found out a lot of things about my favorite holiday that I would rather not have known.First of all- and most disturbing- did you know that on the day after Thanksgiving plumbers receive the most emergency calls? Eeeeeew!
Another disappointment: Pilgrims didn’t actually wear black hats and buckled shoes. Next, someone’s going to ruin my St. Patrick’s Day by telling me that Leprechauns don’t actually wear green top hats and knickers.
And check this out: historians are not even sure that turkey was consumed at the original Thanksgiving feast. And my favorite, pumpkin pie, definitely was not.
Oh, and that whole lovely story about the Pilgrims inviting the Native Americans to celebrate with them in thanks of the good harvest- bullshit. The Native Americans did what I had to do in high school when I wasn’t invited to the popular crowd’s parties: they crashed. And I just read that days before the feast the Pilgrims tried to chop off the local chief’s head.
So much for the colonial Woodstock I had in mind.
But, I’ve been thinking about it, and despite Thanksgiving’s origin, I think it’s important to celebrate. It’s not just a holiday dedicated to eating delicious food; it’s about gathering with family and friends, and, most importantly, being grateful for what we have. In fact, although it’s a couple of days early, I am going to start being grateful right now:
I am grateful for my students. Without their overflowing cornucopia of errors, I wouldn’t have been inspired to start this blog, nor would I have the fuel to keep it going.
I am grateful to spell check and grammar check. If they did their jobs perfectly, I would be unemployed.
For similar reasons, I am grateful to the English language for being so crazy and convoluted.
I am grateful that I can eke out a grammar lesson about thank you:
Did you know that when thank you is used as an expression it doesn’t have a hyphen, but when it’s used as a noun or an adjective it does:
Expression: Thank you for saving me a piece of pumpkin pie.
Adjective: I deserve a thank-you note.
Noun: You at least owe me a thank-you.
Adjective: I deserve a thank-you note.
Noun: You at least owe me a thank-you.
Speaking of owing thank-yous, I owe Emily a gigantic thank-you for proofreading my posts.
And I owe all of you who are reading this blog millions of thank-yous. You could be on the TMZ website right now reading about Lindsay Lohan, but you are here. Reading about grammar. (What’s wrong with you?)I am eternally grateful for your lovely comments, the wonderful content on your blogs, and the supportive community.
Have a lovely Thanksgiving!
14 comments:
I didn't know plumbers had black friday sales too.
Happy thanksgiving to you too!
ha ha Chris that is hilarious. We Non-Americans who celebrate thanxgiving don't care about the history we just love the food, the ability and day dedicated to say thank you.
Welp, I learned something new today. Thank you for teaching me about thank-yous.
I can tell those hyphens are necessary just by visualising the sentences without them. May your thank-yous be widely reciprocated! Should that be "thank-you's" with an apostrophe?
Ah, so that's how you do it! I always knew that when thank-you was used as a noun, it wasn't the same as when it was used as a greeting or expression, but I wasn't sure how to differentiate them.
Up here in Canada, we celebrate Thanksgiving in October, close to the end of the harvest. Traditionally the holiday was always about giving thanks for the abundant yields from the fields, so that people could get through the long, cold, dark winters we have up here. - G
*snicker* Oh, that plumber fact amuses me. Not sure why. I always loved Thanksgiving as a kid, mostly because on christmas our extended family all split up all over the place, but on Thanksgiving, we were all together (usually 30 around my grandma's ping-pong table). Now it makes me a little sad because I am across the country, so it is just my little family.
I like that you managed to fit in our grammar lesson, too, so THANK YOU for that!
And thank you Ms. Jenny for all the enjoyment your blog gives me throughout the year. I look forward to reading it all the time. Thank you for being my Jen. Happy Thanksgiving to you my love.
With that shout-out, you better let me proof before you publish. :) Thank you for entertaining me JB ♥
great to see you share my Thanksgiving skepticism, well to some degree. The plumber line is kind of gross. I've always thought the worst job in the world would be the person who cleans the hotel bathroom after Adam Richman from Man versus Food
Yeapers! If all of us remembered all the rules, you'd be out of a job.
Kinda like me and taxes.....NO FLAT TAX...or I'd be poor ;)
P.S. I surely didn't know about thank yous...so glad I do now!
I LOVE your blog. Seriously. I have missed it so. (btw, sorry about the lack of reading lately!) I would rather read about grammar.
wow. i just had my thanksgiving ruined. i owe you a thank-you. (humor)
Negotiating for hourly rates is not easy because most of the time the rates are fixed. However, there is a favorable alternative to this and that is to hire flexible plumbers. They can be reached on short notice and it is easier to negotiate the timings with them. There charges are also considerably lower compared to those that charge hourly.
A hyphen vs. non-hyphen less that I missed. Is non-hyphen correct?
If you think The History Channel is a bummer, try getting a History degree. It ruins every holiday.
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