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snow day
DCHP-3 (Mar 2023)
Spelling variants:Snow Day
n. — Education, Weather
a day off school (or, occasionally, work) due to a snowfall impeding transportation.
Type: 4. Culturally Significant — The concept of not going to school or work on the day of or shortly after a heavy snowfall, is a relatively recent phenomenon (see the 1985, 2004 and 2016 quotations), at least for some Canadians. Snow day is first attested in 1951 in the New York Times (OED-3); its first occurrence in Canadian sources is a story on New York in the Toronto Star (see the 1978 quotation).
Snow days seem to be less prevalent in areas of the country, such as the Prairies and the North, where long winters preclude taking a day off for heavy snowfalls, for practical reasons. Other regions, such as urban centres in Ontario, Québec and British Columbia, are more likely to give students a snow day.
Snow days seem to be less prevalent in areas of the country, such as the Prairies and the North, where long winters preclude taking a day off for heavy snowfalls, for practical reasons. Other regions, such as urban centres in Ontario, Québec and British Columbia, are more likely to give students a snow day.
Quotations
1978
New York has gone through its worst winter in 30 years -- without declaring any snow days.
1985
I am wondering why the local school board allows buses to transport children when the roads are in a hazardous state some winter days.
The Bedford Protestant School Board allows for four snow days each winter.
Last winter not one of the days was used, although I feel there were several times when the roads were too hazardous for transportation.
1989
''We have three or four storms like this a year. School goes longer than normal here to make up for snow days,'' he said.
1999
Millions of snowflakes drifted down. Everything was covered in a deep blanket of snow. Would it be deep enough? Would school be closed? There's nothing like a snow day! It's the anticipation of watching the thick flakes drifting down, and hoping that school will be closed.
2004
So what's changed? Why must schools adopt policies allowing students and staff to stay home when it snows?
They even have a term for it, that I'm sure was unheard of a few decades ago.
"We had a 'snow day'!" the kids crow.
2005
With the exception of schools on a modified or year-round calendar, the bell rings for most kids in September. But children who are home-schooled have no school bell to answer to, no school closures during summer holidays and never have to miss school on snow days.
2006
Road crews in Vancouver, aided by tonnes of salt-sand mix, finally gained the upper hand by noon Monday over an unusually heavy snowfall that crippled much of southwestern British Columbia.
The biggest public school closure was in Surrey, where about 65,000 students got to have a snow day Monday.
2007
Snow Day! is the third CD by Eric Herman and the Invisible Band. Eric's most upbeat and cool album yet, Snow Day! has 12 tracks including "Hot Sand", "Dance Like an Animal", "Cowboy Bergaleoukaleopaleous", "No Big Deal" and "When I Grow Up". Snow Day! is not a holiday or winter-time album, but embodies the thrill and fun of an unexpected break from routine.
2016
Today's kids are being taught that when it snows, it's a day off. Busses aren't running, schools are optional. Enjoy your Snow Day. They're going to grow up figuring they don't have to go to work when the forecast calls for snow, and forget about going to a hockey game. It's going to be a problem
2019
So when the kids are cooped up inside on a snow day and they are "so bored", why not cozy up and read?
References
- OED-3 • snow day
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