Are Americans as crazy about the 4th of July as they are of, say, Halloween? Or Christmas?
No, it’s not THAT big of a deal, but we do love it. Americans spent more than 7.52 BILLION dollars last year on cookouts and other July 4th celebrations – which makes sense when around 82% of the 334 million Americans celebrated Independence Day last year. That’s a lot of food, booze, fireworks and flags!
But quick question:
Is it the 4th of July or July 4th? Or Independence Day?
All of these are correct! Sure, in the USA, dates are normally expressed MONTH + DAY (without the word “the”). So when talking about appointments or other dates like birthdays, Americans say, “My dentist appointment is on July 4th.” But to talk about the holiday Americans have been celebrating since 1776, the holiday is more commonly referred to as “the 4th of July”. This is the British style of giving dates, which is ironic because, of course, this day is the celebration of when the USA officially declared themselves independent from the British Empire – the federal holiday is officially called “Independence Day” – which we all know from the Will Smith movie.
Picnics and BBQs, parades and huge firework displays – the 4th of July is a fantastic time to be with friends and family. In fact, in many ways the American holiday is similar to the Swiss National Day on the 1st of August. But…
How does the 4th of July compare to 1 August?
Here’s a side-by-side comparison of these two big holidays:
Deutsch (Schweiz) 
English