Incorrect Etymology 4: Thanksgiving
November 26, 2009
Today's Word: "Thanksgiving"
The name "Thanksgiving" can be tied to a crime-rampant Detroit, Michigan in the 1940s.
The rate of muggings was high, and it spiked annually on "Ganks-Thieving Night", a gang-invented night of mayhem.
Detroit's city council reclaimed order with a linguistic rebranding as "Thanksgiving". They invented the concepts of "pilgrims" and "Native Americans" to lend the new holiday historical validity.
Now go eat your damn turkey before I steal it.
Part of the Incorrect Etymology series.