Mr. Tom Spills the Beans

Howdydowdo, as I used to greet my broker. (I'm out of the market now. I wisely squandered my entire IRA and 401K before the market journeyed off to Dixie).

As you may remember, your narrator posed a most unamusing riddle to you on Friday, November 06, 2009: a day that shall live, if not in Infamy, then its close-in suburb Infamy Heights.

In the course of expostulating the contents of said puzzler, I reminded you that, during the holiday season, whatever day Christmas falls on, New Years Day always comes on the very same day, a week later. For example, this year, both Christmas and New Years Day will fall on a Friday. Feel free to look it up if you doubt the unflinching and endlessly-demonstrated integrity of Mr. Tom.

I also noted that, in an unfortunate year during World War II, Christmas day and New Years Day actually fell on different days of the week. I vehemently insisted I was telling the truth, and, oddly enough, I actually am. Do not doubt for a moment that it actually happened.

I also made as manifest as a thing can be made that I was not interested in lucky guesses. I wanted-and still want-to have you tell me why such a thing took place. Here is what you get for guessing the right year: doodly-squat. Here is what you get for figuring out the right reason: the undying admiration of the entire community of Contented Associaters.

"That damn Hitler! I'll bet he had something to do with this," you might be inclined to think. Or possibly, you might have thought, "That Damn Roosevelt! I'll bet this was another of his communistic, big-government schemes to deprive us all of our liberty and individuality!" Or possibly, "I'll bet Chiang Kai-Shek was behind this," if you are really looney-tunes. Your narrator is sorry to disappoint you, but none of you would have guessed the right answer if you supposed any of the above observations to be the case.

No, the correct answer was 1939...or 1940...or 1941...or 1942...um...are you starting to get the picture? Every year features a Christmas and New Years Day-or maybe I should say-a New Years Day and a Christmas that fall on different days of the week. Yes, Christmas will fall on a Friday, this year, and New Years Day will come on the following Friday-true enough-but, by then it will be 2010. Get it? John Smither got it and sent it along in a private message. Thank you, John.

Yeah, but what's all that razzamatazz about World War II? Congratulations, Mr. or Ms. expert angler, you just caught a red herring. We'll have to try another one of these sometime.

Sources

Bridget Ilene Delaney

Tom and Ray Magliozzi