Art of Eloquence Blog — snopes RSS

Popular culture tells us that when I was a little girl, we used to celebrate Washington's birthday and Lincoln's birthday along with Valentine's Day every February. However, due to the difficulty in having two such paid holidays, Washington and Lincoln's birthday celebrations were combined and called President's Day.  These stories began circulating in the 1950's. Adding to the confusion of these rumors was the notion that President Nixon is credited with changing Washingtong's birthday to President's Day commemorating ALL presidents including himself.  Nixon did issue an Executive Order declaring the third Monday of February as Washington's Birthday, but the notion he called for it to be called President's Day celebrating all presidents was actually from a newspaper spoof. According to this snopes article, in 1968, the New York Times reported:...

I came across two true stories about miscommunication over email that ended up leaving the writers with egg on their faces.  Be careful not to inadvertently (or on purpose) send a private email to a list. According to snopes.com, in June of 2003, an intern at a prestigious law firm inadvertently sent a fairly unprofessional email intended for one party to about 40 employees including 20 partners.  The email in question used foul language and seemed to indicate that the intern was intentionally goofing off at work.  His mistake was immediately noticed which necessitated a formal apology.  He apparently was eloquent enough in his apology to remain gainfully employed at the firm. Snopes.com confirms another email mishap which occurred in...