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)