50 Fun Facts About Days of the Week

Tuesday is named after Tiw, a one-handed Germanic god associated with what?

Tiw (Norse Tyr) was equated with Mars, which is why Romance languages name the day after the Roman war god.

In Latin, Tuesday was dies Martis, the day of which Roman god?

Italian martedì and Spanish martes keep the Roman war god; English swapped in his Germanic counterpart Tiw.

The German word for Tuesday, Dienstag, comes from which Germanic institution?

Tiw had a strong connection to the thing, the Germanic governing assembly, so German and Dutch named the day after the meeting rather than the god.

In Japanese, Tuesday is kayōbi, named after which planet?

Kasei, the 'fire star', is Mars, so Japanese and Korean both call Tuesday the fire day.

In Greek the name for Tuesday, Triti, literally means what?

Greeks count the day as the third of the week, which feeds the local superstition that bad luck comes in threes, especially on the 13th.

Super Tuesday is the day when the most US states hold what?

It falls in February or March of an election year, and the set of states taking part changes from cycle to cycle.

In 2023 a Wyoming-based fast-food chain abandoned its federal trademark on which phrase?

Taco John’s had held the registration since 1989 and gave it up in July 2023 after Taco Bell petitioned to cancel it.

After the Wyoming chain gave up that trademark in 2023, which state still had it registered?

A restaurant called Gregory's registered the phrase with the state of New Jersey back in 1982.

Shrove Tuesday takes its name from 'shrive', a word meaning what?

Christians traditionally confessed on the day to be shriven before Lent; the pancakes came from using up eggs, milk and butter.

What does the word ‘Gras’ in Mardi Gras mean?

It was the last day for rich, fatty foods before the Lenten fast; in Italy the day is Martedì Grasso.

Microsoft's 'Patch Tuesday' software updates land on which Tuesday of the month?

Microsoft formalized the schedule in October 2003; the day after is jokingly called Exploit Wednesday.

'Black Tuesday', October 29, 1929, saw roughly how many shares traded on Wall Street?

Black Thursday five days earlier had set a record of 12.9 million shares; the Tuesday collapse became the crash's defining day.

Tuesdays with Morrie recounts Mitch Albom's visits to a dying professor from which university?

Albom reconnected with Morrie Schwartz after seeing him interviewed by Ted Koppel on Nightline in 1995.

GivingTuesday was launched in 2012 at which New York institution?

Henry Timms started it with the United Nations Foundation as co-founder, a week after Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Actress Tuesday Weld was born with which first name?

Born Susan Ker Weld in Manhattan in 1943, she adopted the weekday as a stage name and retired from acting.

On 'Ruby Tuesday' by the Rolling Stones, Brian Jones plays a countermelody on what?

Bill Wyman fingered the double bass while Keith Richards bowed it; the song was released in January 1967.

Monday's name comes from the Old English for the day of what?

Mōnandæg translated Latin dies Lunae; Japanese and Korean also call Monday the moon day.

Under the ISO 8601 standard, Monday is which day of the week?

ISO 8601 starts the week on Monday, while the US, Canada, Japan and many calendars treat Sunday as day one.

'Blue Monday', supposedly the year's most depressing day, was named in 2005 by which company?

Psychologist Cliff Arnall supplied the formula for the travel agency's press release; the first Blue Monday was 24 January 2005.

Who coined the term 'Cyber Monday' in a November 2005 press release?

Research from 2004 had shown the Monday after Thanksgiving was one of the biggest online shopping days, so the NRF gave it a name.

The Bangles' 'Manic Monday' was written by which star under the pseudonym 'Christopher'?

It reached number two in the US, held off the top spot by Prince's own 'Kiss'.

Monday Night Football originally aired on which network from 1970 to 2005?

It moved exclusively to sister network ESPN in 2006 and returned to ABC simulcasts in 2020.

Before the October 1987 ‘Black Monday’ crash, what peak had the Dow reached that August?

The Dow Jones had climbed from 776 in August 1982 to 2,722 in August 1987 before the global sell-off.

Garfield, the cat famous for hating Mondays, was first published locally under what title?

Jim Davis ran the strip as Jon in 1976, renamed it Garfield in 1977, and it went into national syndication in 1978.

Whit Monday is the public holiday celebrated the day after which Christian feast?

Whitsunday is an English name for Pentecost, which always falls on a Sunday.

Wednesday takes its name from Woden, the Anglo-Saxon equivalent of which Norse god?

The Romans read Woden as their Mercury, so French mercredi and Spanish miércoles keep the messenger god.

Ash Wednesday marks the first day of which season?

The ashes placed on foreheads are made by burning palm leaves kept from the previous year's Palm Sunday.

Charles Addams named Wednesday Addams after a line from which nursery rhyme?

The characters were nameless in The New Yorker cartoons; the 1964 TV series needed names, and 'Wednesday's child is full of woe' fit.

Who plays the title role in the Netflix series Wednesday?

Tim Burton directed four episodes of each season; the show became Netflix's second-most-watched English-language series within three weeks.

Thursday is named for the Germanic thunder god equated with which Roman deity?

Latin Iovis dies survives as Italian giovedì and French jeudi, while Germanic languages kept Thor, as in Donnerstag.

'Maundy' in Maundy Thursday comes from mandatum, the Latin word for what?

It opens Jesus' words 'A new commandment I give to you' from John 13, spoken after he washed the apostles' feet.

Ascension Thursday falls how many days after Easter?

Pentecost follows ten days later, which is why Whit Monday lands seven weeks after Easter Monday.

Friday is named for Frigg, a Germanic goddess associated with which Roman goddess?

Hence French vendredi and Spanish viernes; the Norse even called the planet Venus 'Frigg's star'.

At most, how many Friday the 13ths can a single year contain?

Every year has at least one; a fear of the date is called paraskavedekatriaphobia.

Which number, rather than 13, is the unlucky one in Italian popular culture?

Italians treat Friday the 17th as the bad-luck date, not the 13th.

Some trace the Friday the 13th superstition to the arrest of which order on 13 October 1307?

Officers of King Philip IV of France rounded up the Templars that day, though historians agree the superstition's origins remain murky.

Police in which US city first used 'Black Friday' for post-Thanksgiving shopping chaos?

Philadelphia and Rochester police used 'Black Friday' and 'Black Saturday' for the crowds and traffic starting the Christmas season.

Casual Friday grew out of 'Aloha Friday', a custom from which US state?

It spread to California and then worldwide, becoming known as Casual Friday in the 1990s.

In Robinson Crusoe, why does Crusoe name his companion Friday?

Defoe's 1719 novel has Crusoe free a prisoner from cannibals and name him for the day of the week he appeared.

The 1995 film Friday stars Chris Tucker alongside which rapper, who also co-wrote it?

Ice Cube and DJ Pooh wrote it to counter the violent portrayal of hood films, setting it in South Central Los Angeles.

In the 2003 film Freaky Friday, what causes the mother and daughter to swap bodies?

Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan star in the third adaptation of Mary Rodgers's 1972 novel.

In Islam, Friday is Yawm al-Jum'ah, a name that translates as what?

Muslims gather for congregational prayer and a sermon at midday every Friday.

Saturday is the only English weekday named directly after a Roman god. Which one?

The Germanic peoples had no counterpart for Saturn, so they borrowed the Roman name; Old Norse used 'bath day' instead.

Saturday Night Live's 1975 premiere was hosted by which comedian?

The show debuted on October 11, 1975 as NBC's Saturday Night and still broadcasts from Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

Saturday Night Fever was based on a 1976 New York magazine article by which writer?

'Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night' was mostly fictional, but it gave John Travolta's Tony Manero his Brooklyn disco world.

Which Roman emperor made the seven-day week official in AD 321?

He also made the Day of the Sun a legal holiday, and the old eight-day nundinal cycle faded out.

Which Romance language uses numbered weekdays instead of planet names for Monday to Friday?

Portuguese and Mirandese count the days (segunda-feira, terça-feira) but keep sábado and domingo for the weekend.

Which carmaker began closing its factories all Saturday and Sunday in 1926?

Henry Ford reckoned more time off would encourage leisure spending; a New England cotton mill had tried a five-day week in 1908.

Which country observes a one-day weekend on Saturday only?

Djibouti, Iran, Somalia and Libya take Friday only, while Mexico, India and the Philippines rest on Sunday alone.

The ancient Romans traditionally used a market cycle of how many days before adopting the week?

The eight-day nundinum coexisted with the seven-day week for a while; Egypt and the French Republican calendar used ten-day weeks.