h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Is Valentine's Day nothing more than a tacky and tasteless exercise in selling tasteless tat? When people can celebrate their love on their anniversaries (whether wedding anniversaries or other notable occasion, such as when first met, the first kiss, beginning or relationship etc – although these may coincide with Valentine's Day) is there a need for a culturally-appointed date that enforces the celebration of romance?

Valentine's Day, do you think it is a good or bad thing? Tell me below!

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Her birthday is July, mine October. We met in October, we married in a September.

February is a nice non-specific date to us. I like the idea that it reminds us to be thankful to the most important person in our lives.

But then - I am just an old softy.

Of course, a similar question arises every December and early spring. Why do so many non-Christian, non-Jew, non-Muslim or non-Druids enjoy the holiday from work at Christmas and Easter? Nothing much special to them . . . .

Maybe, but they could at least choose a time of year that isn't cold, wet, dark and miserable.

One thing I don't get is the Valentine's Day cards that shops sell. These come in two varieties.

The reasonably priced ones are tacky and typically come in two varieties:
Let's get drunk and have sex
Let's have sex then get drunk.

Neither of which are particularly romantic. Yet if you want to get a nice card with an actual romantic message and decent, respectable picture on the cover, it costs more than a paperback book How is that justifiable?

At the end of the day, what is better and shows more love and affection? Buying someone a meaningless card churned out by the thousand at this time of year, or a novel that you feel reflects their taste and personality and will last longer?

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You don't have to share any particular faith to be able to appreciate the opportunity to spend time with your family at Christmas and Easter. But Valentine's Day isn't a holiday and you don't get to spend extra time with a loved one.

Besides which, if you exchange chocolate in stockings at Christmas and chocolate eggs at Easter, do we really need to exchange for Valentine's Day too? Especially when so many people are still trying to keep their New Year's Resolutions.

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The El Paso Zoo (and a few others around the US) has a special opportunity for folks to "celebrate" Valentine's Day. They will name a cockroach after your EX and feed it to meerkats, who find them a particular treat.



When I was in college, waiting for a business class to begin, I couldn't help but overhear the conversation between two young women, possibly sorority girls, next to me. One was expounding on exactly what she expected from her boyfriend for V-Day.

1.) She expected jewelry, nice jewelry, at LEAST a diamond tennis bracelet.
2.) She expected an engagement ring.
N.B. The engagement ring would NOT count as a V-Day present, it had to be separate.

I glanced over and noticed the speaker's ear rings. They were miniature sets of three credit cards.
There was no shame to her game.

She was quite serious about earning her MRS degree.

That's what I hate about it, that there's a general perception that = and the pressure is if you don't spend lots of money on overpriced stuff, you do not love your partner .

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Great question!

I have a bit of an ambivalent relationship with Valentine's Day - on the one hand I love it because I'm a softy too but on the other hand there is a fine line between romantic gesture and overblown tat...

Valentine's Day is on a Thursday this year, which is worse than a Wednesday for the shops - I didn't even see any cut flowers at the weekend never mind a bouquet of roses... However, I plan to remedy this situation within the next few days and it will be interesting to see what will buy A87904911

Valentine's Cards are another thing indeed - it is very disappointing how difficult it is to find the right flavour of message as well as a respectable cover amongst all the tacky ones... On the other hand when I finally did find a lovely card with the exact form of words I was looking for (without resorting to expensive design-your-own card websites) it was a great feeling of achievement! My partner somehow managed to find lovely cards for me, too so it was the perfect way to celebrate considering we never spent the day together in person as it wasn't a holiday day.

We’ll, he was a 3rd-century Roman saint, martyred after he attempted to convert the mad Emperor Claudius to Christianity.

Stands to reason we should send each other boxes of chocolates in his honour. It’s what he would have wanted.

Oh, yeah... Claudius was the MAD one.

I'm off to the haf moon at Putney
https://tickets.halfmoon.co.uk/events/2019-02-14-vilentines-day-the-anti-valentines-day-show-with-hank-and-the-wangford-bass-combo-and-special-guest-brad-breath-andy-roberts-half-moon-putney

Sure, delete the only February holiday that amounts to much of anything.

Some of us live where no green leaves or colorful blossoms greet us when we go out the front door in the morning. Our worst-of-the-season snowstorms usually fall this time of year. And this year is politically worse than anything I can remember. Recently we learned that if you cut off your government's funding for 35 days, *major* things start shutting down. Planes can't land, for instance. Even the IRS is hobbled to some extent. Would a long-enough shutdown prevent the IRS from processing enough funds to stave off a government default that would have worldwide effects?(Yes, even affecting your neighborhood.)

Yesterday I was trying t think of things that made life worth living, and I wasn't coming up with much. Worldwide financial collapse on top of whatever climate horrors may await us in the next year.

So, I'm going to say that we need valentine's Day. Heck, we need two or three *more* February holidays. They can be organized around gummy bears, coffee (you knew I was going to work coffee into this post ), Laura Ingalls Wilder (Feb. 7), Charles Darwin (Feb. 12), and anyone else whose birthdays or accomplishments can be accessed.

Keep the holiday!

That's not really a defence of Valentine's Day itself per se, more an argument saying you want to have something, anything, to celebrate at this time of year.

And Valentine's Day isn't a holiday 'cos you don't get a day off.

Frequently February is when Shrove Tuesday is celebrated, though admittedly not this year, and who doesn't love a good pancake? And every February is LGBT History Month – again, why the shortest, dullest, worst month of the year was chosen rather than one of the good ones I don't know. (Hang on, there's also a LGBT Pride Month too, which sensibly is in June. Why the two months? Is it a UK/US divide thing, or is it simply 'why not?' Who wants to argue over how many colours should be in the )

Or why not found your own tradition to celebrate and share with your friends?

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February has an official holiday in the US.

Mattress Sales Day!

aka Presidents day (Lincoln and Washington celebrated only).




LGBT history has to share a (short) month with Black history!?

I thought Black History Month is October, or again is this observed at different times of the year in the US/UK difference, like Mothering Sunday?

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"That's not really a defence of Valentine's Day itself per se, more an argument saying you want to have something, anything, to celebrate at this time of year. And Valentine's Day isn't a holiday 'cos you don't get a day off."[Bluebottle]

You're right. I was venting, and I can get a little irrational when I do that.

Besides, I don't actually have a significant other to send valentine cards to. Still, my pops chorus sometimes performs Valentine Day concerts, and that makes the day seem special.

Presidents' Day hardly seems like something worth celebrating. Washington and Lincoln are dead, and wouldn't know whether I celebrated their birthdays or not. For that matter, neither would Martin Luther King, Jr. (a January birthday honoree). Buying mattresses or cars hardly seems like something one can celebrate every year.

I think it should be obvious that if politicians (old white men almost exclusively at the time) were going to deign to designate a month to "Black" history, they'd pick the shortest one.

I suppose that I could celebrate Feb. 2nd with ground hog loaf.

That's just sausage, right?

Yes.