We vote on Tuesdays because of our farming roots
Yet another reader’s rant and rave:
It occurred to me that February always brings with it an unknown added cost in ink, as well as a waste of space and time, due to the totally useless “R” stuck in the middle of it.
Who needs it? How often is the word ever pronounced correctly?
And now today’s question:
With the State of the Union address Tuesday of this week, it struck me that political events (like voting) seem to happen on a Tuesday.
Why not Saturday when a lot of people are off work and might have time to participate?
You have forgotten about your ancestral roots back on the farm, assuming your ancestral roots were indeed on a farm.
Back in the days when most of us lived an agrarian lifestyle you had to plan on at least a day’s drive to get to the county seat to cast your vote and then a day to get back to the farm.
The weekend was out because that was when we went to church. And Wednesday was market day.
Tuesday worked. That gave you a day to get to town and a day to vote and get home again.
Why that should apply to the state of the union address, I’m not sure.
I guess the tradition just stuck.
My grandparents always referred to their sofa as a “davenport” and I never asked them why. Do you know?
As a matter of fact, I do. I grew up referring to our sofa as the davenport.
It seems to be a Midwest thing, especially the upper Midwest.
A davenport was a popular style of sofa manufactured by the now-defunct A.H. Davenport Co.
It was so popular it became a synonym for a sofa in the same sort of way Kleenex became a synonym for a tissue.
Have a question for Clay? Reach him at 602-444-8612 or clay.thompson@ arizonarepublic.com