Today is our most confusing holiday historically and grammatically. We celebrate it under federal law as “George Washington’s Birthday.” However; he actually was born under the Julian calendar on February 11, 1731, which became February 22, 1732, under the Gregorian calendar in 1752, and then the third Monday in February by Congressional fiat.
In some states, however, George shares the spotlight. Today is “Washington’s and Lincoln’s Birthday” or Day in Colorado, Minnesota, Montana, and Ohio. In Alabama, it’s “Washington’s and Jefferson’s Birthday.” In Arkansas, today is “Washington’s Birthday and Daisy Gatson Bates Day.” (Ms. Gates was a civil rights activist.)
It gets worse for punctuation perfectionists – the states can’t agree on how or whether to use an apostrophe in further naming today. Some celebrate today as “President’s Day,” grammatically meaning only one unnamed President (Alaska, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wyoming).
Some celebrate “Presidents’ Day,” grammatically meaning some or all Presidents (Hawaii, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Washington [and Puerto Rico]). Some simply omit the apostrophe and declare that it’s “Presidents Day,” to leave us scratching our heads (Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon [and the Maine Court System’s notice of closure today]).
The Presidential Seal, shown above, based on the Great Seal of the United States that was approved by George Washington, adroitly avoids an apostrophe. (Brooklin, Maine)