historic vs. historical

This morning in Minneapolis, Fox 9 traffic reporter Juli Jay called the opening of the new Interstate 35W bridge a “historical” day. This is a linguistic mistake we hear often as people describe the nature of the presidential campaign underway. So let’s set the record straight.

Historical is about or related to history, something from the past. Historic is something in the present that bears historical significance and marks a memorable event. Sen. Barack Obama gave his DNC acceptance speech on a historical day, the 45th anniversary of MLK Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Obama is running a historic campaign.