Classics on the Billboard
How Friday became a word for an assistant
There was a time when English job ads asked for a "girl Friday."
On the billboard
English dictionaries list man Friday and girl Friday as terms for a loyal assistant who helps with everything. The title of the Hollywood film His Girl Friday comes from the same phrase. So how did a weekday become a helper?
In the book Robinson Crusoe · Daniel Defoe
In Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, after many years alone on his island, Crusoe saves a man's life and decides: his name should be Friday, which was the day I saved his life
. Then Crusoe teaches him to call Crusoe Master
. Read today, the scene makes you ask who gets to name whom.