Can't Stand the Term "Friendsgiving"

[Anonymous]

I can't explain why for the life of me, but I find this word absolutely awful. Maybe it's because it seems like it was invented solely for the purpose of using it as a social media hashtag, or maybe it's because that every time I hear an adult use it I want to ask them if they're actually 14 years old. What's wrong with simply referring to Thanksgiving as Thanksgiving, regardless of whether it's spent with family or friends? Does everything need it's own lame naming convention these days?

[Anonymous]

I agree. It's stupid. It's up there with Granddog for me.

[Anonymous]

We had Friendsgiving for years because Thanksgiving Day was spent with just me, DH, DS, and invalid MIL and FIL, and I mourned the big fun family holidays of my youth. So the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we hosted Friendsgiving with several of our close friends. It wasn't Thanksgiving because we had already had Thanksgiving.

Now that MIL and FIL have passed, we have the same gathering with close friends, but now we do it on Thanksgiving Day, so we call it... Thanksgiving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't explain why for the life of me, but I find this word absolutely awful. Maybe it's because it seems like it was invented solely for the purpose of using it as a social media hashtag, or maybe it's because that every time I hear an adult use it I want to ask them if they're actually 14 years old. What's wrong with simply referring to Thanksgiving as Thanksgiving, regardless of whether it's spent with family or friends? Does everything need its own lame naming convention these days?

+1. One of the most cringeworthy terms of recent years.

[Anonymous]

It's older than social media hashtags, but I agree now it's annoying. I liked the original idea behind it.

[Anonymous]

We all have our quirks. This is yours.

[Anonymous]

Went to an awesome one last night. Much better than the real holiday.

[Anonymous]

I mind it when it’s a hashtag concept on social media or clickbait articles, but not in real life. DH is an immigrant and my family mostly died when I was just out of college, so the Thanksgivings I knew and loved were gone by the time I was 30. Calling it Friendsgiving wasn’t something I ever did, but when my friends (who I hosted and who hosted me) called it that, I preferred it. For me it was just a gentle way of protecting myself from the memories of loss that Thanksgiving invoked and a way of taking ownership of the ugly side of conversations around Thanksgiving. After you’ve explained who you’re celebrating Thanksgiving with and people say even once “but what about your family?! That’s not a real Thanksgiving!” (and I got this a lot over the years), “Friendsgiving” starts to feel like a palatable term.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't explain why for the life of me, but I find this word absolutely awful. Maybe it's because it seems like it was invented solely for the purpose of using it as a social media hashtag, or maybe it's because that every time I hear an adult use it I want to ask them if they're actually 14 years old. What's wrong with simply referring to Thanksgiving as Thanksgiving, regardless of whether it's spent with family or friends? Does everything need it's own lame naming convention these days?

Do you understand how it works? It’s held on another day than Thanksgiving to share time with your friends. My thought is…how many people have that many close/BFF friends to have a big dinner? Go out with your favorite couples and/or singles and have fun. No cooking, no decorating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't explain why for the life of me, but I find this word absolutely awful. Maybe it's because it seems like it was invented solely for the purpose of using it as a social media hashtag, or maybe it's because that every time I hear an adult use it I want to ask them if they're actually 14 years old. What's wrong with simply referring to Thanksgiving as Thanksgiving, regardless of whether it's spent with family or friends? Does everything need it's own lame naming convention these days?

Do you understand how it works? It’s held on another day than Thanksgiving to share time with your friends. My thought is…how many people have that many close/BFF friends to have a big dinner? Go out with your favorite couples and/or singles and have fun. No cooking, no decorating.

It's usually held before actual Thanksgiving too. I like the idea

[Anonymous]

We don't just call it Thanksgiving because it's an excuse for a separate party on a separate day. I just got home from one tonight. We didn't even cook any traditional Thanksgiving dishes, just ate a lot and had a really nice time with friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don't just call it Thanksgiving because it's an excuse for a separate party on a separate day. I just got home from one tonight. We didn't even cook any traditional Thanksgiving dishes, just ate a lot and had a really nice time with friends.

We don't do traditional Thanksgiving dishes either, but there's still a holiday spirit to it if that makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Yea it’s annoying. I agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don't just call it Thanksgiving because it's an excuse for a separate party on a separate day. I just got home from one tonight. We didn't even cook any traditional Thanksgiving dishes, just ate a lot and had a really nice time with friends.

This is called a “dinner party”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't just call it Thanksgiving because it's an excuse for a separate party on a separate day. I just got home from one tonight. We didn't even cook any traditional Thanksgiving dishes, just ate a lot and had a really nice time with friends.

This is called a “dinner party”

This.

My objection to the word is that it doesn't make sense. Thanksgiving gets its name because it's a day for giving thanks. Is friends giving about giving friends? Does that make sense? No. Use words that make sense.

Also friends were never excluded from the concept of Thanksgiving. There's no rule you can't just spend Thanksgiving with friends or a combo of friends and family.