# Christmas songs - so many questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [December 23, 2025, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994 "2025-12-23T22:03:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/21 "2025-12-24T16:32:30Z")
Batman smells because he never cleans the suit, right? And is Robin laying an egg just a bird pun, or does it mean he pooped his pants? And you mean to tell me the Batmobile didn’t have run flat tires? I thought Batman was supposed to be prepared! I’m starting to think this version of Jingle Bells doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/22 "2025-12-24T16:48:55Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > **Do You Hear What I Hear?** – if a child, a child, shivers in the cold, you suggest bringing him silver and gold?? Why don’t you bring him, I don’t know, _a blanket_? What gets me about that one is that, according to the Bible, what the mighty king actually said to the people everywhere was “Let’s kill all of the boys under three years old just to make sure we got this one”. Not exactly “pray for peace”. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/23 "2025-12-24T16:52:32Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@Ellecram](#): > > > > Artistic license with rhyming conventions explain this one. > > Well, yes; most of this thread (including my post) seems to be intended as more tongue-in-cheek. Regardless, cold precious metal is a _terrible_ gift for a shivering newborn.. 😉 Sorry I forgot the /s! My covid brain is in full swing this week. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/24 "2025-12-24T17:13:11Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Batman smells We interrupt your post for this [important message](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSYW52qePINDeZ3qC5yqsTcptH53BThDl5dzw&s) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/25 "2025-12-24T17:14:10Z")
Why is or was, Ave Maria so popular? Does anyone have a clue what the heck they’re saying? Allied and Axis troops sang it in WWI. Link [https://youtu.be/UgrsARVtS9Q?si=NrIm6SZfLm534\_yj](https://youtu.be/UgrsARVtS9Q?si=NrIm6SZfLm534_yj) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/26 "2025-12-24T17:15:32Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Does anyone have a clue what the heck they’re saying? Anyone who attended Catholic high school, and took Latin class, probably does. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/27 "2025-12-24T17:19:45Z")
Thankfully, Latin wasn’t required when I attended public high school. Missed it by about 8 to10 years. The schools were just beginning to push Spanish when I graduated. I was forced to take it in college. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/28 "2025-12-24T17:36:57Z")
I had two years of high school Latin. We learned to sing Jingle Bells in Latin one year and I still remember it. _Tinniat, tinniat tintinnabulum!_ ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/29 "2025-12-24T17:39:27Z")
**We Three Kings -** Were the Magi really in such a hurry that they had to _traverse_ the fountains instead of just going around them like normal people? **The Christmas Song -** Why does Santa have to load lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh? Can’t the elves do that for him? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/30 "2025-12-24T17:45:46Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > **Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer** - Why did “Like George Washington” ever catch on as the final verse of the “call and response” version, when “Like Napoleon” scans so much better? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/31 "2025-12-24T17:56:35Z")
A Marshmallow World is a peculiar Christmas Song. It’s found on Bing Crosby and Dean Martin’s Christmas albums. It used to be popular. Is it a sticky world? Marshmallow Fluff gets all over my hands. > [@](#): > > It’s a marshmallow world in the winter > When the snow comes to cover the ground > It’s time for play, it’s a whipped cream day > I wait for it the whole year round ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/32 "2025-12-24T17:59:42Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > **The Christmas Song -** Why does Santa have to load lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh? Can’t the elves do that for him? It’s the same as when we say any other CEO does something. They do things by telling others to do them. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/33 "2025-12-24T18:06:12Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > When the narrator says “The three words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote: ‘Stink! Stank! Stunk!’,” who is he quoting? Strunk & White ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/34 "2025-12-24T18:19:21Z")
> [@solost](#): > > _ **I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus** _ > > Isn’t this kid, who believes he sees his father getting cucked by a beloved mythical figure, going to be emotionally scarred for life? Yes. Very much yes. ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/g4vktLutpiY/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/g4vktLutpiY?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=RDg4vktLutpiY ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/35 "2025-12-24T19:18:10Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Do cartoon flying beagles use ATC or do they just takeoff/land on their own? 🤔 Snoopy has a private airport, and being similar to a biplane I’m sure he’s only flying visual so no need at all for ATC. As for the 12 Days of Chirstmas, I saw [this joke](https://www.shlomifish.org/humour/by-others/12-Days-of-Christmas-Letters/) about the woman liking the gifts then getting pissed at them. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/36 "2025-12-24T20:37:58Z")
Where does the comma go in “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen”? [An answer](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=where+does+the+comma+go+in+god+rest+ye+merry+gentlemen) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/37 "2025-12-24T20:45:07Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > ATC, WWi airplanes didn’t even have radios (for most of the war). No one had radar. And “airports” were large flat fields, and they took of in whatever direction the wind was coming from, ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/38 "2025-12-24T20:57:15Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I asked in a Christmas past song thread, since I had always wondered-- are the presents _actually_ repeated, or is every verse just announcing the next gift, plus just reminding what was already gifted? The overwhelming consensus was the latter- yes, they are repeatedly given. Yeah, I dont buy that they are repeated > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > It’s an obvious parallel to the 1914 Christmas truce. And besides, who in the German command is going to know? [Manfred von Richthofen: The Red Baron  - Biographies by Biographics](https://biographics.org/manfred-von-richthofen-the-red-baron/) Manfred Freiherr von Richtofen (reek-toe-fen), was pretty chivalrous. One a foe was crippled, he generally stopped shooting. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Anyone who attended Catholic high school, and took Latin class, probably does or German, sometimes it is sung in German. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/39 "2025-12-24T20:57:52Z")
**Snoopy** Didn’t the Red Baron shoot him down? It would be a war crime to shoot at him once he was a non-combatant. All he said, presumably in perfect English, was, “Merry Christmas, my friend!” If we’re talking about Snoopy being shot down in France in the Halloween special, the same would apply even if the notion of “war crimes” were not a written and signed document. I know he’d shake his fist at his foe, and often there is a caption, “Curse you, Red Baron!” Yet Sopwith Camels really sucked. A doghouse with wings, propellers and a rifle would be better. There was quite a lot of chivalry between pilots. > [@DrDeth](#): > > One a foe was crippled, he generally stopped shooting. Is it known that he ever shot a pilot crashing to the ground, or if lucky, survived a downing? ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/40 "2025-12-24T21:31:40Z")
What did the Hall family do that makes people want to deck them? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994.md?page=3)