Comments on: We’ll Keep the Coffee Machine On For You

By: Elly

Elly — Tue, 24 May 2011 12:41:55 +0000

I’m not sure whether Tom Bodett Day is a good idea or a bad idea.

By: WEIRDNESS

WEIRDNESS — Mon, 24 May 2010 05:00:29 +0000

THERE ARE 100′S OF MADE UP HOLIDAYS, BUT ST VALENTINE’S DAY IS NOT ONE OF THEM.
CAULFIELD ISN’T “BRILLANT AND BORED” HE’S LAZY. HE WON’T DO HIS HOMEWORK
HE WON’T DO SCHOOL WORK AND HE WON’T TAKE TESTS. WHAT HE DOES DO IS READ NON SCHOOL BOOKS TO GET OUT OF CHORES. THIS ANTI-SOCIAL KID NEEDS
TO BE HOME SCHOOLED.

By: Jess D

Jess D — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 03:15:47 +0000

“Groundhog Day may be made up, but its roots aren’t purely commercial like Mother’s Day, and it isn’t a real holiday that mostly unrelated commercialism has overwhelmed, like St. Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Cinco de Mayo, and it isn’t an example of one religion taking over another’s holidays to gain converts, like Halloween and Christmas.” - George P

That’s actually not true. The old Celtic holiday of Oimelc/Imbolc got turned into the Christian holiday of Candlemas in order to gain converts, and that eventually became the secular Groundhog’s Day in America. So it’s basically the same thing as Halloween, Christmas, Easter, May Day…

By: JrzyGirl

JrzyGirl — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:34:40 +0000

“Hedgehog Day” dates to ~700BC in Europe. Early American settlers chose the groundhog as a substitute.

By: Ray Brady

Ray Brady — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:59:09 +0000

St. Valentine’s Day has been affiliated as a lover’s holiday since at least the 14th century. Chaucer makes reference to it.

By: George P

George P — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:13:44 +0000

The tradition of an animal being able to predict the weather on the day is a European tradition, but it was Americans (former Germans, and in Pennsylvania) that turned it into a community celebration. With groundhogs.

By: Powers

Powers — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:12:01 +0000

And yes, the artist’s notion that it’s somehow hilarious to knock a guy for not recognizing a newly-minted holiday at the same time he celebrates other holidays with centuries of tradition behind them is absurd. St. Valentine’s Day is far, far less “made up” than Mother’s Day or Flag Day or Labor Day, but if the point is just “all holidays are made up”, well, so what?

By: Powers

Powers — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:09:18 +0000

Groundhog Day isn’t purely American. Sure, they don’t have groundhogs in Europe, so the name is ours, but the concept of an animal being able to predict the weather by his behavior on Candlemas Day (Feb. 2) is much older than the United States of America.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 04:45:17 +0000

Minky and Paperboy, I love you guys. I actually was afraid I was too harsh and came back to apologize in case I offended someone. I don’t comment here too often, so I try to stay on my best behavior hehe. Glad to see you guys agree!

By: George P

George P — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 03:59:46 +0000

Groundhog Day may be made up, but its roots aren’t purely commercial like Mother’s Day, and it isn’t a real holiday that mostly unrelated commercialism has overwhelmed, like St. Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Cinco de Mayo, and it isn’t an example of one religion taking over another’s holidays to gain converts, like Halloween and Christmas.

Groundhog Day goes back almost two hundred years, it’s American, it isn’t heavily commercialized, and it’s silly fun.

Now that I think about it, Groundhog Day may be the best holiday of the year.