Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day!

I’ve written before about my discomfort when people refer to “the holiday,” meaning whatever holiday is coming up or happening. But as soon as I turned on the radio this morning, July 4, I started hearing about “the holiday,” “the Fourth of July holiday weekend,” or just “happy Fourth of July.”

Well, I can wish my British cousins a happy Fourth of July with a clear conscience. As I noted in this post four years ago, the British (and the rest of the world) do have July 4 — they just don’t celebrate it.

But especially this year, when so many troubling things are going on, let’s talk about it as Independence Day. We can still celebrate our independence, and there’s something particularly precious in it this time.

So happy Independence Day, and enjoy calling it by its name.

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Margaret H. Laing

I moved to Chicago from the south suburbs in 1986. I have diverse interests, but I love writing about what I’m interested in. Whether it’s a personal interest or part of my career, the correct words to get the idea across are important to me. I love words and languages — French and Scottish words enrich my American English. My career has included years as a journalist and years working in museums, and the two phases were united by telling stories. I’m serious about words and stories. So here I am, ready to tell stories about words and their languages.

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