Date: Fri, 17 Nov 1995 13:03:31 -0600

From: Natalie Maynor maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]RA.MSSTATE.EDU

Subject: Re: POETS day



I dated an Englishman for about two years,

who said that in his old workplace in Sheffield,

they used to call Friday "POETS" day,

as an abbreviation for "Piss Off Early,

Tomorrow's Saturday."



Is this more widespread than I've assumed?

Do others among you know (or even use)

this expression?



I first heard it a good many years ago as "Piss On Everybody, Today's

Saturday." Later I heard people argue that it was a Friday expression,

not a Saturday expression, with "Tomorrow's" rather than "Today's." I

think maybe I've also heard "Piss Off Early" instead of "Piss On Everybody."



Isn't this expression what the Poets restaurant chain is referring to? I

had always assumed that the name of the restaurant was a take-off on

Fridays, a similar kind of restaurant that appeared shortly before Poets

did. Now that I think about it, I'm not positive that Poets is a chain.

But I assumed when it opened in Jackson (MS) fifteen or twenty years ago

that the name was an answer to Fridays, the chain that is really named

TGIFriday, I think. Fridays may be a regional chain, of course.



Getting back to the answer to your question: Yes, I've heard POETS, with

at least approximately the meaning you mentioned, almost as long as I've

heard the expression TGIF.

--Natalie (maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ra.msstate.edu)