Monday's child is full of face.

We all know that poem, usually called "Monday's Child":

Monday's child is fair of face
Tuesday's child is full of grace

And on like that. Ultimately a child born on each day of the week gets some trait prophesied:

Monday: fair face
Tuesday: packed with grace
Wednesday: chock full o' woe
Thursday: long schlep
Friday: loving, giving
Saturday: works hard
Sunday: bonny, blithe, good, gay

So unfair to Wednesday. Thursday kids are not much better; "far to go" could mean "will go far," or it may mean "will run all over the place like Billy from Family Circus and take eight times as long to go half the distance." Saturday's kid working hard for a living might mean he is industrious, or it could be that he devotes his life to working harder, not smarter.

Some people will automatically spout that stuff when you have a baby; they want to tell you what to expect based on the day of the week the kid arrived. Like it's an accurate predictor. Compared to this poem, astrology is Newtonian physics.

I thought about the people in my circle whose birth dates I know, wondering whether their lives had played out as the poem predicts. In a word: No. In fact, based on the anecdotal experience of my acquaintances, I'd say:

Monday’s child is goofy and weird
Tuesday’s child has a big hairy beard
Wednesday’s child pays a great cost
Thursday’s child always gets lost
Friday’s child works hard for a goal
Saturday’s child goes on the dole
Sunday’s child could be worse
And unlike others, not under a curse

 

But, as they say, your mileage may vary.