13

13 trivial things about Friday:



1. Etymologically speaking, "friday" refers to "day of the planet Venus." (photo from voobie's photostream on flickr)
2. The original Friday the 13th in 1980 made the name Jason and hockey masks super scary. The franchise spurned eleven, count 'em, eleven sequels, including a mashing of the series with another iconic horror franchise Nightmare on Elm Street in Freddie vs. Jason. And now, a new revamped Friday the 13th opens in theaters today, at a multiplex near you.
3. Freaky Friday is a classic children's book by Mary Rodgers in which a mother and daughter wake up and find themselves in each other's bodies for a day.
4. The hit 1995 film Friday helped boost the acting careers of Ice Cube and Chris Tucker. Two sequels: Next Friday and Friday After Next.
5. The first T.G.I. Fridays restaurant opened in New York City at First Avenue and 63rd Street. Now in strip malls across America.
6. In Robinson Crusoe, Man Friday is a native whom Crusoe saves from other savage cannibals. Man Friday becomes Crusoe's personal slave, I mean, servant. Now we use the terms Man Friday or Girl Friday to describe a loyal, dedicated assistant.
7. Black Friday often refers to that lovely day after Thanksgiving when shoppers go insane on the first shopping day or the Christmas season. The anti-Black Friday is "Buy Nothing Day" a day of protest started by Adbusters Magazine.
8. Ironically (or not) Black Friday also refers to human disasters like the Haymarket massacre, the Eyemouth disaster and the US Canadian tornado outbreak in the 80s.
9. Casual Friday, in which companies allow their employees to do away with the suit and tie for a day, actually started in the 50s with a few companies, but became more popular in the 70s, then the 90s with the dot-commers.
10. Friday is the title character in Robert Heinlein's award-winning 1982 sci-fi novel about a superior artificial woman.
11. In the classic kids song "Today is Monday" where you go through foods associated with each day of the week, Friday is fish day.
12. In Christianity, Good Friday is the day that Jesus Christ was crucified, three days before Easter when he arose from the dead. Maybe it's just me, but "good" in this case seems a misnomer. I'd go with something more like "Crap Friday" or "Shite Friday but don't worry Good Sunday."
13. Speaking of divinity, TGIF/Thank God It's Friday was first coined by an Akron, Ohio deejay Jerry Healy in the 70s. Another Ohio deejay, Alan Freed, is credited with first using the term "rock and roll." Go, Ohio, my home state.