250 Year Anniversary

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, Martha. This is Brendan. I’m calling from Redondo Beach, California.

Hi, Brendan. Welcome to the show.

How can we help?

Well, I was driving past a flood-controlled dam in my area not too long ago, and it was painted back in the 70s with a big sort of text mural that said, 200 years of freedom, 1776 to 1976. And I have fond memories of that time with the bicentennial and all the big hoopla that was going on about that. And I was thinking that we’re coming up on another big anniversary, not all that far away. The United States will be celebrating 250 years of independence.

Oh, my gosh, you’re right. When is that, in 12 years from now?

Roughly, yeah, 12 years.

Oh, my gosh. Well, they’re merchandising opportunities then. Start planning now, right?

I remember. Everything was red, white, and blue.

Oh, my gosh. They were very young then, but I remember the fire hydrants being painted to look like Uncle Sam. I loved it.

Oh, everything, I’m sure. And then the next year, they painted them to look like R2 from Star Wars. Brendan, I’m sure you remember all those tchotchkes.

I do, I do. And so we called it the Bicentennial. What are we going to call it for 250 years? Is there a word for that?

Oh, there’s several of them. Some made-up ones that nobody uses and a couple that are not, I mean, they’re obviously invented, but nobody still uses those either.

Yeah, a bunch of words that nobody uses. Well, we have a chance. So apparently when Princeton University celebrated its 250th year anniversary, they invented a word. They coined one, bison quinquaginary, something like that.

That’s not going to work.

Well, you know.

You think?

No, there’s a couple. Sester Centennial is actually pretty good.

Yeah. It’s not transparent to most people, though.

Sester Centennial?

Yeah, from Latin, right?

Yeah, from Latin.

Maybe. I don’t know. I mean, do you need to say something like bicentennial? Do you need to have another word for that?

You know what I would suggest is quarter millennial.

Oh, why?

Quarter millennial. Quarter millennial.

Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, we talked about the millennium. You’re only a quarter of the way there. It sounds small. It sounds like the future’s wide open. You know? Got to wear shades. Quarter millennial.

Okay. Does anybody use that?

It’s an expression. I don’t know how many people, but, you know.

Actually, that kind of works. Quarter millennial, it’s easy to say.

Yes. It’s not quite transparent. What do you think about that one, Brennan?

Quarter millennial?

Yeah.

Yeah, one quarter of a thousand years.

I like it.

You approve?

I approve.

All right. I’ll get working on the T-shirts.

All right, Brennan. Thanks for the call.

Thank you. Take care now.

All right. Bye-bye.

I bet that catches on. So in 2026, we’re going to have the quarter millennial celebration for the founding of this country.

Okay. I can buy that.

The case quarter. I’m on board. Let’s do it.

The case quarter millennial. 877-929-9673. Email words@waywordradio.org.