Fridays Glorious Fridays

TGIF!

Do we really and truly understand the glorious meaning to that phrase??? I think sometimes we do and sometimes we don't! Corporations surely do not! They continue to work us like dogs well into the night and sometimes into Saturday, mocking those glorious boundaries and making us resentful!

Anyone who attends school or works Monday through Friday will tell you that the last day of their week is met with much anticipation. Each Monday, the countdown to Friday begins and Friday is received with open arms. TGIF, the acronym for Thank God It’s Friday, or Thank Goodness It’s Friday, came about in the 1960s as a universal mantra to express the relief of the end of the work week, as well as reference to the good times planned for the awesome non-work weekend ahead.

The weekend as we know it did not come into existence until the five-day work week became standard in the U.S. and many other industrialized countries in the 20th century. Until then, many workers worked seven days a week or had only Sundays off due to religious reasons.

In the U.S. and other predominately Christian countries, the weekend is Saturday and Sunday. Although Friday is considered by many to be unlucky, some cultures believe that Friday is the luckiest day for marriage and fertility, as it is named for the Norse Goddess Freya, the Goddess of fertility.

One of the earliest references of TGIF can be found in the grill and bar, T.G.I. Fridays, which first opened in 1965 on Manhattan’s Upper East Side as a place for young professionals and students to mingle. Their slogan soon became, “In here, it’s always Friday”®, evoking the celebratory feeling of Friday that everyone looks forward to all week long.

Although TGIF remained an often used phrase shared by many an employee or student on Friday, Donna Summer starred in the movie, Thank God It’s Friday in 1978. Surely, the disco and club scene of the 1970s and 1980s contributed to the party-like atmosphere that Fridays' seemed to have been infused with on the energy front!

Even non party people relished the opportunity to stay up late Friday and Saturday, and sleep in late the following day or make up sleep lost over the work week. Pay-day Fridays are even more special, knowing that you can relax or play with your paycheck newly deposited into your bank account.

In the 1990s, the network ABC launched its TGIF Friday night lineup which brought in the viewers with family friendly comedies. For families, it was a night of relaxation when kids could stay up a little later than usual with the parents.

Today is a glorious TGIF and I am very grateful this horrible week is behind us.
The first days of this week were very long and exhausting as I was working at a Speedy Gonzalez pace (like what else is new?)and it totally wore me out. Today, I totally appreciate the TGIF and I'm grateful it is finally here!!! Can't wait to actually go home...glorious home...

Are you?
History lesson today.

Thanks for listening...