Poor old Tuesday

How often do we use the words for the different days of the week? Does Friday occur more frequently than Wednesday? During a recent talk at the university, I was made aware of the phenomenon. I had never given any thought to the topic, and probably would not have guessed correctly, but when the results were presented they, with the wisdom of hindsight, seemed to make sense. So which is the day of the week that is most frequently used? It is Sunday, the runner-up being Saturday. The weekend seems to afford more opportunities for talk than any odd day of the week. This makes sense. These days stand out against the rest. This is also culturally significant. It shows what is and what is not important in society, and one wonders whether one would get the same results in other cultures. Probably not. Friday in a Muslim context and Saturday in a Jewish context are likely to surpass Sunday. In our context, Sunday also seems to be pushed by the names of certain institutions such as Sunday School or Sunday lunch, which may not be tied to the actual day of the week. Moreover, fixed phrases such as your Sunday best or Sunday driver may contribute to the frequency of Sunday. Sunday and Saturday are followed by Friday and Monday, both marking the extreme points of the (working) week, and Wednesday, the middle of the (working) week. The most nondescript days are Thursday and Tuesday, which comes last. Why Thursday occurs more frequently than Tuesday is difficult to explain at first sight. On second thoughts, it occurrred to me that elections are held on Thursdays in Britain and that Prime Minister’s Question Time is also on Thursdays, so that could explain the superiority of Thursday. (Stubbs, Michael: ‘Searle and Sinclair on communicative acts: a sketch of a research problem’)