# Christmas songs with parts that irritate me **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 11, 2017, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212 "2017-12-11T17:07:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/101 "2017-12-13T16:17:05Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I’ve always wondered why Parson Brown was concerned about whether or not the kids were married. Did clergy in his day, on seeing teenagers (or young adults, or old adults) frolicking about, interrogate them about their marital status? Depending on what type of frolicking they were doing, he well might have. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/102 "2017-12-13T16:20:16Z")
If they didn’t want to be interrogated, why did they build him in the first place? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/103 "2017-12-13T16:25:43Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > If they didn’t want to be interrogated, why did they build him in the first place? 😕 To watch him melt like a bad guy in an Indiana Jones flick. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/104 "2017-12-13T16:32:19Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I thought Mary was a round young virgin. Glad to know God doesn’t fat shame the mother of Jesus. Joseph on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/105 "2017-12-13T16:39:39Z")
One of the things I loved about the animate Christmas special _Olive, the Other Reindeer_ is that, like the title character, whose name is a _mondegreen_ (from “all of the other reindeer”), other characters also have mondegreen names, namely “Round John Virgin” (from 'round yon virgin") and Richard Stans (from the Pledge of Allegiance – " …and to the Republic, for _which it stands_…") I haven’t read the book this was based on, so I don’t know if they carried this over from there. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/106 "2017-12-13T16:43:27Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I’ve always wondered why Parson Brown was concerned about whether or not the kids were married. Did clergy in his day, on seeing teenagers (or young adults, or old adults) frolicking about, interrogate them about their marital status? > [@Folacin](#): > > Depending on what type of frolicking they were doing, he well might have. The Methodist Youth Fellowship group I was in had a running gag during retreats. If a boy and a girl from some other group were walking hand in hand, someone from our group would invariably say, “They’re brother & sister.” ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/107 "2017-12-13T16:46:16Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Maybe Richard Carpenter? I don’t think anyone other than he and Karen performed on any of their records, what with overdubbing and all. > > Anyway, why the fuck is Gray serving coffee and pumpkin pie at Christmastime? It should be hot chocolate and mince pie instead!\* 😕 > > \*Though I suppose custard pie would actually scan better. No? The two pies of Christmastime are pumpkin and pecan. Mince/custard sounds like some weird foreign thing. Hot Chocolate for kids and adults who don’t drink coffee, coffee for the other adults. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/108 "2017-12-13T16:49:36Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > No? The two pies of Christmastime are pumpkin and pecan. Mince/custard sounds like some weird foreign thing. American here, and my Mom always made mince pie for herself at Christmas. None of us were interested in it. And Christmas isn’t for pies, it’s for cookies! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/109 "2017-12-13T16:50:43Z")
> [@aktep](#): > > This is one of my pet peeves: “Christmas songs” on the radio that are really just “songs that mention Christmas”. “Same Old Lang Syne” is the one that really grates on my nerves for this reason. But it’s about Christmas Eve, snow and bars not being open. It’s appropriate for the season. 😕 ---
**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 13, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/110 "2017-12-13T17:18:35Z")
Oddly, I never figured that Parson Snowman Brown was tsk-tsking the unmarried frolicking couple. I figured that he was just doing some business marketing, fishing for the exact response that he got. “Are you in the market for weddings? High-quality matrimonial ceremonies, for a reasonable price!” ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/111 "2017-12-13T18:31:43Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > One of the things I loved about the animate Christmas special _Olive, the Other Reindeer_ is that, like the title character, whose name is a _mondegreen_ (from “all of the other reindeer”), other characters also have mondegreen names, namely “Round John Virgin” (from 'round yon virgin") and Richard Stans (from the Pledge of Allegiance – " …and to the Republic, for _which it stands_…") > > I haven’t read the book this was based on, so I don’t know if they carried this over from there. No, the animated version pretty much was completely made up for the show. The book was just about a little dog named Olive who mondegreened the Rudolph song, decided that she was a reindeer and went to the North Pole to help out. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/112 "2017-12-13T18:41:54Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > American here, and my Mom always made mince pie for herself at Christmas. None of us were interested in it. And Christmas isn’t for pies, it’s for cookies! 🙂 We had mince pies as well as pumpkin, too. Served with hard sauce, which really wasn’t very saucy, more like buttercream frosting with a shit-ton of brandy in it. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/113 "2017-12-13T18:43:40Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > American here, and my Mom always made mince pie for herself at Christmas. None of us were interested in it. Mince pie is the pie analogue to fruitcake, which is another Christmas tradition that some people have all to themselves due to lack of interest from others. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/114 "2017-12-13T19:05:28Z")
Like everything else he touches, Bob Rivers vastly improves on _My Favorite Things_. [Jingle Hells Bells](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm0O1eSk7fg&app=desktop) ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/115 "2017-12-13T19:23:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Another one from “I’ll be Home for Christmas”: > > “Please have snow, and mistletoe, and presents ooo-oon the the tree”. > > Who the heck puts presents on the tree? And if you’d just put them under the tree like normal folks, you wouldn’t even have to stretch out “on” to two syllables. > **[The pagan origin and history of the Christmas tree](https://www.zmescience.com/science/history-articles/origin-christmas-tree-pagan/)** > > The history of a powerful Christmas symbol. “After Queen Victoria, an extremely popular monarch, started celebrating Christmas with fir trees and presents hung on the branches as a favor to her husband, the layfolk immediately followed suit.” ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/116 "2017-12-13T20:43:43Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I’ve always wondered why Parson Brown was concerned about whether or not the kids were married. Did clergy in his day, on seeing teenagers (or young adults, or old adults) frolicking about, interrogate them about their marital status? Depends on what that frolicking entails. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/117 "2017-12-13T20:59:39Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Must really, really hate Silent Night, then. :dubious: Not really, because while the first line (“Si-i-lent Night, Ho-o-ly Night”) indulges in this–6 syllables, 8 notes–most of the rest of the song doesn’t: “All is calm, all is bright” (6 syllables, 6 notes) “Round yon vi-ir-gin, mother and child” (8 syllables, 9 notes) “Holy infant, so tender and mild” (9 syllables, 9 notes) "Sleep in heavenly pe-eace, sle-ep in heavenly peace (12 syllables, 14 notes) This takes a few liberties but isn’t that bad and _nowhere near_ as atrocious and pervasive as in “The First Noel”. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/118 "2017-12-13T20:59:39Z")
Is \*that \*what the kids called it back then? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/119 "2017-12-13T21:13:47Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Mince pie is the pie analogue to fruitcake, which is another Christmas tradition that some people have all to themselves due to lack of interest from others. Mince pie instead of…uh, what is it you eat that you have decided everyone else should eat and that you scorn them for not eating instead? A line from the heading of Chapter 15 of _Pudd’nhead Wilson_ springs to mind here. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2017, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212/120 "2017-12-13T21:16:30Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I was all confused because I finally learned a few years back which song is that one and I could have sworn none of the versions I normally sing has that bit. According to Unca Google, my memory is correct: neither Adeste Fideles nor Venid fieles todos robbed the Nicean Creed and then stuck that strange line in the middle. Well according to aunt Wikipedia those lines were in the original Latin verses… > **[O Come, All Ye Faithful](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Come,_All_Ye_Faithful)** > > "O Come, All Ye Faithful", also known as "Adeste Fideles", is a Christmas carol that has been attributed to various authors, including John Francis Wade (1711–1786), John Reading (1645–1692), King John IV of Portugal (1604–1656), and anonymous Cistercian monks. The earliest printed version is in a book published by Wade. A manuscript by Wade, dating to 1751, is held by Stonyhurst College in Lancashire. > The original four verses of the hymn were extended to a total of eight, and these have been ... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-with-parts-that-irritate-me/804212.md?page=7)