[SCA-Dance] KWDS report (What I Did on my Summer Vacation...)

Tim McDaniel tmcd at panix.com
Thu Jul 30 21:00:03 EDT 2009


On Thu, 30 Jul 2009, Jane & Mark Waks <waks at comcast.net> wrote:
> Jessica Cohen wrote:
>> I suspect (not being an American myself) that they mean July 4th
>> weekend.  Specifically something like July 1-4 or July 2-5, depending
>> on the 2010 or 2011.
>>
>> On Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 3:22 AM, Del<del at babel.com.au> wrote:
>>> When is "Independence Day Weekend"?
>
> Correct. Independence Day is by definition July 4th, so this refers
> to the nearest weekend, and it's common for folks here to get the
> 4th off, frequently with a bridge day connecting it to the nearest
> weekend.

I've just been writing documentation, so I may be getting over-precise
here, painting the lily, gilding refined gold.  Sorry.

That is, US employers frequently give the day of July 4th as a free
paid day off work.  (Except business that stay open, like many stores
and restaurants and such, but they often have reduced hours and/or
holiday pay.)  Employers sometimes give people a second day off if
needed to make July 4 be part of a long weekend.  (Otherwise, the
people often take a day of vacation anyway.)

Furthermore, if July 4 is during the weekend, the employer usually
observes the adjacent weekday as the holiday.

Basically, for July 4, many or most US employees get a three-day or
four-day weekend.

So that makes July 4 useful as a weekend to plan an interstate event
for, because many US people are likely to be able to travel without
needing vacation time.  US Memorial Day and US Labor Day are similar,
though they are three-day weekends specifically.  (Thanksgiving Day,
Christmas Day, and New Year's Day are often handled the same way, but
people are somewhat likelier to want to spend these days with family
and not go to the event.)

> "Nearest" is a bit subjective, though, if it isn't obvious which
> weekend you're talking about

== Wednesday.  That won't happen again until 2012.

So, in listing form, if July 4 is on ___, a US employee tends to get
___ as paid holidays from work:

Sunday: get Monday
Monday: get Monday
Tuesday: get Tuesday, sometimes Monday
Wednesday: um, er.
Thursday: get Thursday, sometimes Friday
Friday: get Friday
Saturday: get Friday

Danyell de Lincoln
-- 
Tim McDaniel, tmcd at panix.com


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