Do you want a chuckle? Google "former president john adams predicted"

[zbdent]

I'd been hearing an advertisement for an Ohio fireworks company saying "In 1776, President John Adams predicted that the fourth of July would be celebrated with fireworks".

I thought about that ... wasn't our first president George Washington? Didn't he take office in 1789???

So, I googled it ... and came up with a number of hits ... and what I found was comical. Either this guy was ill-informed, or just plain stupid (and being the VP of a fireworks store apparently is not too hard ...).

Some of the articles printed "Former President John Adams predicted in 1776 in a letter to his wife ..." (and it refers to illumination, not fireworks; fireworks are implied). Others dropped the "Former". Former would suggest that he had already been president of the U.S.

Well, it's reporting good enough for Fox ...

[On the Road]

1. If You Didn't Describe Him as

"president" or "former president," what would the description be -- "president-to-be"? Maybe I'm missing a point of grammar here.

[zbdent]

2. Future president

which he did ... but the commercials and the articles/letters are saying that the "Former President" or "President" did it - giving the impression that the guy was, or already was, president when he wrote the prediction ...

[hvn_nbr_2]

3. If they had properly used the future subjunctive pluperfect, it would be clear. nt

[zbdent]

4. good enough for Right-Wing history

hey, they're creaming themselves because someone is "dissing" a person who served more time in the military than George W. Bush ... oops, what happened in 2004, when the Repukes were lying about Kerry?