I’m not upset at all.
Merry Xmas 
Xappy Xolidays.
And a frigging good New Years Eve.
This round is on me 
Well, it was half serious half joking, but not so much a parody persay. The whole PC thing DOES irritate the crap out of me as I sort of outlined in my post, and for the reasons I mentioned (that of profanity being okay, and anyone NOT liking it told to “grow up” or “grow a pair”", but OOoooh WOE is anyone who DARES mention an aspect of their faith, ESPECIALLY christianity, oh THAT’S offensive. You can’t have it both ways folks.
And this quote, seems to both miss my point, and prove it:
[quote]
The expression far precedes “PC” considerations. Before PC, there was simple civility. I think you’re fundamental cluelessness, and those of others, comes from the very Christocentric belief that it is REALLY Christmas and everyone should acknowledge it and/or celebrate it and just CANNOT GET YOUR ETHNOCENTRIC HEADS around the fact that there are other religions, and athiests, and therefor good reason to simply say, “hey, have a good whatever.” It’s not about PC, but it does reinforce the notion that “PC” is an expression made up by bigots to sully even the most lighthearted gestures of goodwill and decency towards a non-white and non-Christian world. I can’t imagine that the world is now so lacking in pain and misery that a simple “Hey, have a happy… whatever it is you do,” is now a bad thing, a cheap and tawdry trick to make you ashamed of your Christian heritage. Before we know it we’ll have to put Santa hats on snowmen, because goddamned the snowmen anyway, they’re innocuous non-religious icons of winter, PC little fuckers, and I hope they melt. {/quote]
Either we completely sanitize our language so that there can be NO possible offense to anyone at ANY TIME, or we allow for individualism. For you to suggest that someone spouting “Merry Christmas” out of habit at people is from a motive of, in your words "Christocentric belief that it is REALLY Christmas and everyone should acknowledge it and/or celebrate it " shows YOUR cluelessness of the situation, AND of not reading my entire post. I don’t like the term “Happy Holidays” for its aesthetic stupity and phoney sound. And again, as I said in my post, and again here. Christmas to a huge number of folks means no more than the greedfest of present buying and getting. In modern times, it’s as much a holiday of presents, if not more, as it is a Christian one. From where I’m looking? I’d say it’s reallly mostly Santa and the elves and kiddie land and very little of christianity.
And no, though a non fundie christian, I’m no theologian, and don’t pretend knowledge of EVERY other religion, so as to know which ones I should be saying happy, or merry whatever too.
Part of my point was that Merry Christmas really, imho, has (thanks in a huge part to the retail world) already been divorced from its christian roots, and is a greedfest holiday with meaning all by its lonesome nowadays.
Ooooohh, SOMEone needs their sarcasmeter adjusted. Now THAT part of my post was entirely smart alecky, and was In NO way intended to convey actual information, data from a dictionary or anything of the sort.
Must have been at least SOMEwhat obvious judging from the poster who DID get it.
Dad BLAST it all to thunderation anyway…
Sigh, my reply to circutous is within that huge quote, looks like my sucky coding abilities struck again.
No, my suggestion is that anyone getting torked off because someone says “Happy Holidays” INSTEAD OF “Merry Christmas” is an idiot. I would heartily agree that anyone getting torked off because someone says “Merry Christmas,” is also an asshat. But when the anti-PC crowd is now jumping up and down and dithered because some free American says some harmless blather, then they’ve joined forces with their imaginary enemy. Of course, the anti-PC crowd has always been much louder and much whinier, and with far less to complain about.
Let me explain again: “Merry Christmas” is fine. “Fuck you for wishing me a Happy Holiday without using the word Christ” is an assholish petty complaint by a small-minded tit who needs to have the true meaning of Christmas pounded up his ass with a croquet mallet.
I see nothing aesthetically displeasing about “Happy Holidays.” It sure sounds pretty when Peggy Lee says it. As for phony, it all depends on who says it and how. ANYTHING can sound phony. On the other hand, who gives a shit?
“Happy Holidays” was created to be PC??? For fuck’s sake, the song “Happy Holidays” dates back at least sixty years, having been in a WWII-era movie called Holiday Inn – a film that also included a black-face routine with shuffling pickaninnies praising Abraham Lincoln while a Mammy-like figure sang, “Who was it that set the darkies free?”
Bing Crosby sang the song “Happy Holidays” because he was wishing his audience a happy new year, a merry christmas, and basically a whole season of joy. I figure if it’s good enough for him and Irving Berlin (the composer, I believe), it’s good enough for me. Hell, if you care enough about the other person to wish him a merry Christmas, why not care enough to consider that he might not even celebrate it?
Y’know, I’m sick of people acting as if avoiding offense is uniformly a bad thing. Last time I checked, it was considered “good manners” and “maturity” to make others feel comfortable around you. We’re not talking about some struggle for civil rights, or any major life-or-death cause in which one will, perforce, need to offend someone. This is about going through life generally trying not to make people feel bad. Personally I don’t find it that much of a hardship.
Yes. Because it recognizes that there’s a helluva lot more to December than just Christmas.
And if you don’t like it, just remember that Jesus told his disciples to stay the hell away from the Gentiles and they didn’t listen.
Tellya what, pal, you point to the verse in the Bible where it says December 25th is Jesus’ birthday and then we’ll believe you.
Till then, the fact that the Christians cribbed most of the so-called Nativity from Mithras prevails.
What’s the big hairy deal about ‘happy holidays’ anyway? Not that I’ve ever actually said it myself, mind.
I do routinely say, ‘hope you have a nice holiday’ just because it’s just a titch (titch calculations to be performed by Kyla) more focused than our amiable default ‘have a nice day.’
I don’t care how or whether anybody’s actually gonna celebrate anything. I don’t care if they worship graven idols, molest farm animals or just slob out in their pajamas all day. I plan on it. Slobbing out in my comfy sweats, that is. They’ll probably be off work, and have suffered through the stress and chaos of too much going on in a short time.
So it’s just an expression of generalized fucking goodwill, all right?
Damn anal Brits.
All of the above said with tongue firmly in cheek. Except for the part about slobbing out.
Pip pip cheerio…
So is mine. A date we share with Abbie Hoffman, Shirley Chisholm, Efrem Zimbalist Jr, Jonathan Swift, David Mamet, Sir Philip Sidney, Mark Twain, Winston Churchill… and Dick Clark.
I’ve often wondered what would happen if an infinitely large box filled with an infinite number of frogs equipped with an infinite number of keyboards would look like.
Now I know.
I think some of you need to re-grout your tin foil hats.
On the subject of frogs, did someone mention the French?……
Owl - working on Christmas Eve , being threatened with a wild-cat tube strike, still to wrap the giant robot monster toys and defrost the turkey, in a house with the Mother in Law in it and as such in no mood. No mood at all.
Happy Bloody Christmas. BAH! HUMBUG!
Oi! Gomi you Fulham yobbo. Keep it down will you - some of us are trying to work over here.
Happy holidays and season’s greetings.
And I said I was “torqued off” where in my post exactly?
Wow, You need to get 8mm stamped on your forehead, I’ve NEVER seen anyone project so much about a post that said NOTHING of the kind. I merely said why I didn’t like the term 'happy holiday" and as I explained above, was about half serious about some of my post and half smartassed about it (the serious part I explained in my previous post). I never even remotely implied that I had the teensiest thought of their motives, or notion in my head of being all mad at them because THEY said it. My post was explaining why I don’t use the phrase.
??? Wow, and I thought I was a humbug. So what? I’m not all that crazy about the phrase, along with a lot of other phrases and words that have nothing to do with christmas, if I don’t like them, I simply don’t USE them. And that IS what the OP was asking, “do you use this phrase”. NOT "do you pound someone into pulp if they dare say it to you. If you’d read, with ANY comprehension at all, my first post, you would have seen that my first line was “if I have to say anything at all”. I pretty much boycott christmas, only using the “christmasy” nonsensical phrases for business purposes, or if someone says it to me. So there was NO fundie agenda to my post, AT ALL.
I explained it again, but you proceeded to read all SORTSA evil fundie garbage into my post, and even after I explained “no, you are way off base” you still wanna peg me as having some vile forcing the christianity aspect of Christmas down others’ throats motives.
You’re a little stressed, perhaps a nice long bubble bath?
we wish you a merry christmas, we WISH you a merry CHRISTMAS…We WISH you a merry Christmas, and a HAAAAAPPPY new YEEEEAAAAAAR
Here’s a question for the “happy holidays” chaps.
How do you know when to stop? Pretty much every day is important to someone or something (and if you’re going to let passing cockmongers just MAKE UP holidays - then you’re more seriously stuffed than the turkey).
So when do you stop saying this silly thing? How do you know? Or is it something that just peters out? Or do you (as I suspect) wait for the Christmas decorations to come down and all those people with inflatable illuminated santas (what is all that about BTW?) on their roofs to sober up and take them down?
Owl - still faced with a carol concert, looking at holiday photos with the Mother in Law, being woken up at some unearthly hour tomorrow by rapacious brats demanding presents, which they will then proceed to break. Mind you; I am looking forward to Marge Simspon addressing the nation in the alternative Christmas message (she’s up against a well established performer though).
We don’t! That’s the beauty of it! We just slide seamlessly into the generic ‘have a nice day’! ‘Have a nice (mumble) day.’ Hideously subtle, isn’t it? It’s subliminal torment, like chinese water torture syncopated to every pop Christmas carol you’ve ever loathed.
Now start enjoying yourself or at least shut about it before we stake you through the heart with a sprig of holly.
A merciful relief compared with the upcoming period.
Where? What channel? I’ve been right through Sky and can’t find it. 
For the love of Og tell me it isn’t another of yer wind-ups and TELL ME WHICH CHANNEL!!!
::whimper::