Wednesday’s Child

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So who are you siding with on—Odin or Mercury?

Wednesday got started as “day of Woden”, reflecting the religion practiced by the Anglo-Saxons, the English equivalent to the Norse god Odin.

In many Romance languages, such as the French mercredi, Spanish miércoles or Italian mercoledì, the day's name is a calque of Latin dies Mercurii “Day of Mercury.

In Japanese, the word for Wednesday means “water day” and is associated with the planet Mercury, literally meaning “water star”.

In the mid-1950s, people started calling Wednesday “Hump Day”, which views the middle of the workweek as a mound you've got to climb over to reach the weekend.

!975, JJ Cale featured the term in his song “Friday” and in 2013 the phrase saw a monstrous surge in popularity after a Geico commercial with an obnoxious talking camel walking around an office.

And, of course, there’s Wednesday from The Addams Family, who has her TV show now.

My interest in the Day of Mercury follows a recent Chinese takeout experience where two of my fortune cookies were Wednesday-oriented.

The first stated “Let go of worries and embrace peace this Wednesday.”

That sounds like great advice for any day of the week, and for the rest of my life. I’d like to say that I’ve been trying to do this since birth, but if I’m being honest, perhaps not.

There’s a part of me that thrives on worries and longs for turmoil. It’s been the state of my mind for so long that it feels normal. Peace is the anomaly.

This was followed by another water star message: “On this Wednesday, seize the day and make the most of every moment.”

Something to Chew On

Again, I wish I could say that I’ve done this and that I don’t advice from a fortune cookie. But I’ve been far too cautious for far too long.

I found a thread on Quora where a poster said he had gotten a fortune that read “Wednesday is the day to make your move.”

“It means nothing at all,” one person responded. “It is a generic suggestion that will, at any one time, apply to everybody in your entire country and most other countries.”

The responder added that the fortune was “plausible bubble gum - it fits everybody and has very low value.”

“Ignore it and any other suggestions on how to run your life coming without huge amounts of background information and investigation.”

Okay, then.

My fortune cookie haul also gave me some long-range guidance. One of them told me to “trust your instincts this September.”

We’re only in March but it’s nice to plan ahead.

I always hated September as a kid because it meant the start of school and I hate it even more now since it marks the end of summer and reminds me that I’ll be freezing my keester off a few momths later.

Speaking of which, I got another fortune that said, “your dreams will come true in December.”

So, I guess I should make my move in September and be ready for the big pay off at the end of the year.

Or maybe I should give up all this plausible bubble gum and eat Mexican food.

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