Friday is widely considered to be the last day of the working week worldwide, and for those who work a Monday to Friday job, it’s the beginning of the weekend and therefore the most glorious weekday around.
There are a few different acronyms that float about for Friday and there are also a couple of different Friday dress-codes encouraged in the corporate world.
Friday is also a day synonymous with superstition whenever it falls upon the 13th day of the month, but do you know what the fear of Friday the 13th is called?
Or do you know where the name for Friday comes from?
Well, the answers are all here, so let’s get on with it. Happy Friday people!
The English name Friday comes from the Old English Frīġedæġ, meaning “Day of Frige.” This is as a result of the Old English goddess Frigg (an Anglo-Saxon interpretation of the Norse goddess Freya) being associated with the Roman goddess Venus.
This is the same within several other languages, including the Old High German Frīatag and Modern German Frietag, as well as Vrijdag in Dutch.
In most languages that are derived from Latin, Friday is derived from the words “dies Veneris” (day of Venus), like “Vendredi” is French, “Venerdì” in Italian, and “Viernes” in Spanish.
However, in Portuguese, also a language derived from Latin, the word for Friday is “Sexta-feira,” meaning “sixth day of liturgical celebration” and is derived from the Latin “Feria Sexta” which was used in religious texts where it was forbidden to consecrate days to pagan gods.
In Japanese, the word for Friday is formed from the words kinsei, meaning Venus (which literally translates as “gold + water”), and yōbi, meaning day.
A popular American acronym is “TGIF,” which means “Thank God It’s Friday.”
In the U.K. and Australia, Friday is sometimes referred to by the acronym “POETS Day,” which stands for “Piss Off Early Tomorrow’s Saturday.”
The term “Friday’s Syndrome” and the term “Friday Feeling” refer to Friday often being the last day of the working week for people and therefore people feeling more relaxed and easy-going on a Friday.
Friday the 13th, although considered lucky in some parts of the world, is often a day of superstition for most people in the western world, and the fear of Friday the 13th is known as paraskavedekatriaphobia.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were born together on Friday the 13th June 1986.
In the maritime world, it is considered highly unlucky to begin a voyage on a Friday.
Many corporate workplaces in the West have a “Casual Friday” or “Dress-down Friday” dress-code where employees aren’t expected to turn up to work in their smart business attire, but instead in something more casual like jeans and a t-shirt.
In some places around the world, there is also an occurrence known as “Country and Western Friday,” which is similar to “Casual Friday,” but where employees will wear Cowboy attire rather than casual clothing.
In the U.S., the term “Black Friday” sometimes refers to the day after Thanksgiving, which is traditionally the first day of the Christmas shopping season.
The retail madness seen in stores across the U.S. on Black Friday first resulted in the death of a retail employee in 2008 when, upon opening doors to a 2,000-strong crowd of shoppers in Valley Stream, New York, the employee was trampled by to death by the rushing crowd.
Since then there have been multiple reports of people being shot, stabbed, beaten, trampled, and even pepper-sprayed during Black Friday sales.
In astrology, Friday is connected with the planet Venus and is symbolized by that planet’s symbol.
Friday is also associated with the astrological signs of Libra and Taurus.
In the Thai Solar Calendar, blue is the color associated with Friday.
In Christianity, Good Friday is the Friday before Easter and it commemorates the day of Jesus’ crucifixion.
In 1719 the Daniel Defoe novel Robinson Crusoe, the main character meets a native to the island he’s stranded on, with whom he cannot communicate at first. Crusoe and calls him Friday as this is the day of the week when he meets him.
The expression “Man Friday” comes from the character Friday in the novel Robinson Crusoe, and is used to describe a particularly loyal or competent male personal assistant.
Thank god it’s Friday everyone!
This day is obviously one of the favorites for many people around the world… unless it is Friday the 13th of course.
Go out, party, have fun this weekend and make sure to have lots to talk about come Monday!
