If you needed any more proof that each day of the calendar year now gets some sort of designation, look no further than April 14, though it’s not a particularly cheery occasion.
Next Friday is National Ex-Spouse’s Day, a true example of how these day-designations simply have gone too far.
International Women's Day? Yes, obviously long overdue. Same of course for Juneteenth. Those occasions, among others, give society a chance to not just acknowledge its imperfect history but actively work to improve relations across different races, genders and generations. They are critical calendar marks on the road to inclusion, and sadly came about because history hasn’t been too kind to all.
But now, if you’ll let us climb down from the soapbox, we’ll spell out why not every day needs such a label.
On the far, far less important scale from those mentioned above, even occasions like International Waffle Day (March 25, apologies if you missed it) offer a fun, gimmicky chance to shake up the redundancy of our respective 9-to-5 working lives. Ditto for National Taco Day (Oct. 14).
But National Ex-Spouse’s Day? What is one supposed to do with this? Is anyone really taking their old flame out to dinner after the other’s attorney took them to the cleaners? Or is this more of an excuse for the divorced men’s club to get together at the local watering hole and gripe?
The latter makes more sense, we suppose, but either way, there’s good news for Maryland residents, even beyond the Maryland sportsbook promos they can get here at BetMaryland.
The state actually had one of the lowest divorce percentages per 1,000 women in the year 2021, coming in at 1.6%. Only Texas, Illinois and Massachusetts had lower rates. So credit where it is due.
Marriage is hard, but taking the ex-wife out to dinner might be even harder.
How did we come by this unique research? At BetMaryland.com, where we typically stick to Maryland sports betting, we used data from the National Center for Health Statistics to determine the states with the highest and lowest divorce rates. The figures for the divorce rate are per 1,000 women in 2021, the latest year for which the data has been compiled by the Center.
So while we’re not big on this particular day designation, Maryland restaurants should be able to relax a bit without worrying that a conga line of failed marriages will be walking through the door come next Friday. Not so much in Nevada, Oklahoma and Wyoming, the three states with the highest divorce rate in 2021.
Keep it here at BetMaryland if you enjoyed this research item. And while we’ll keep fighting the good fighting against unnecessary day designations, our true specialty is keeping you abreast of the best Maryland sports betting apps.
Author
Thomas Leary is a news editor and writer for BetMaryland.com. He previously worked at Sports Business Journal for over 6 years, where he helped identify emerging sectors across sports business, such as legalized gambling, and helped launch the publication’s digital newsletter division.
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