Tuesday is often overlooked. It is not the dreaded Monday, the midweek Wednesday or the nearly-there Friday. Yet it is the day of pancakes, US elections and some of history’s biggest events. Here are 20 fun facts about Tuesday.
1Tuesday is named after a Germanic god of war.
The name comes from the Old English Tīwesdæg, “Tiw’s day”. Tiw, known in Norse myth as Týr, was a god of war and law who, according to legend, lost a hand to the giant wolf Fenrir.
2Elsewhere, Tuesday belongs to Mars.
The Romans named the day after Mars, their god of war. That is why Tuesday is mardi in French, martes in Spanish and martedì in Italian.
3In Japan it is “fire day”.
The Japanese name, kayōbi, means “fire day”, because the planet Mars is known in Japanese as the “fire star”.
4Tuesday is the second day of the week.
Under the international standard ISO 8601, the week begins on Monday, making Tuesday day two. In calendars that start on Sunday, it is day three.
5Tuesday’s child is full of grace.
According to the old nursery rhyme “Monday’s Child”, children born on a Tuesday are blessed with grace.
6Pancake Day is always a Tuesday.
Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins, was when Christians used up rich foods such as eggs, butter and sugar before fasting. In many countries it is called Mardi Gras, French for “Fat Tuesday”. The pancake race in Olney, Buckinghamshire, is said to date back to 1445.
7Uranus was discovered on a Tuesday.
On Tuesday 13 March 1781, the astronomer William Herschel spotted a new planet from the garden of his home in Bath. It was the first planet discovered with a telescope.
8Black Tuesday was the worst day of the Wall Street Crash.
The crash began on Thursday 24 October 1929, but the biggest panic came on Tuesday 29 October, when more than 16 million shares were sold. It helped trigger the Great Depression.
9Greeks consider Tuesday unlucky.
Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire on Tuesday 29 May 1453, and Tuesday has been seen as an unlucky day in Greece ever since. In Greece and Spanish-speaking countries, Tuesday the 13th is the unlucky date, rather than Friday the 13th.
10D-Day was a Tuesday.
The Allied landings in Normandy began on Tuesday 6 June 1944, the largest seaborne invasion in history.
11American elections are held on Tuesdays.
In 1845, Congress set Election Day as the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Voters in farming areas needed a day to travel to the polls, and Sunday was for church, so Tuesday made sense.
12There is even a Super Tuesday.
In US presidential election years, Super Tuesday is the day in early spring when the largest number of states hold their primary elections to choose party candidates.
13Microsoft fixes its software on Tuesdays.
Since 2003, Microsoft has released its regular security updates on the second Tuesday of each month, a day known in the industry as Patch Tuesday.
14Sonic the Hedgehog 2 launched on “Sonic 2sday”.
Sega released Sonic the Hedgehog 2 worldwide on Tuesday 24 November 1992, with a marketing campaign built around the pun “Sonic 2sday”.
15“Taco Tuesday” was trademarked for 34 years.
The restaurant chain Taco John’s held the trademark for “Taco Tuesday” in most of the US from 1989. In 2023, after a legal challenge from Taco Bell, it gave the trademark up so that anyone can use the phrase.
16New albums used to come out on Tuesdays.
For decades, new music in the US was released on Tuesdays, while the UK used Mondays. In July 2015 the industry moved to a single worldwide release day: Friday.
17Christmas Day falls on a Tuesday more often than on most days.
The Gregorian calendar repeats every 400 years. In each cycle, Christmas Day falls on a Tuesday 58 times, the joint highest of any day along with Friday and Sunday.
18Winnie-the-Pooh had views on spelling Tuesday.
In The House at Pooh Corner (1928), Rabbit says you cannot help respecting anybody who can spell Tuesday, even if they do not spell it right.
19Tuesday is a lucky day in Judaism and a holy one in Hinduism.
In Jewish tradition, Tuesday is considered lucky because, in the story of creation, God said “it was good” twice on the third day. In Hinduism, Tuesday is linked to Mars, and many people pray to Hanuman and fast on Tuesdays.
20The actress Tuesday Weld was born on a Friday.
She was born Susan Ker Weld on Friday 27 August 1943. Her stage name came from a childhood nickname.
FAQs about Tuesday
Why is it called Tuesday?
Tuesday is “Tiw’s day”, named after a Germanic god of war, known in Norse mythology as Týr.
When is Pancake Day?
Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, is the day before Ash Wednesday, 47 days before Easter Sunday. It falls between early February and early March.
Why are US elections on a Tuesday?
A law passed in 1845 set Election Day as the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, partly so that rural voters could travel without missing Sunday church.
Sources and further reading
Explore more: facts about Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
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