You’re kidding, right? Only a third of the people I know actually celebrate Christmas, but they do celebrate something around the general time of that holiday. And if you don’t know what they’re celebrating, why would you wish someone happy Christmas? Some of my friends and family are Jewish, others are Hindu, and some are atheists. Still others friends and colleagues celebrate the solstice or Kwanzaa (thought I’m not very familiar with that). Happy holidays is a pretty all-encompassing saying that you can use virtually any time during the month of December, and it can include New Years, too, in the event that you’re not seeing the person until the beginning of the new year.
And I don’t need a “euro-myth” to make me look mad. I’m quite mad without one, thank you very much, though not generally in a way any myth about the U.S. would predict. Still, I do rather enjoy infamy, but I can’t speak for all Americans.
Um, I think you’re missing the point of ‘Happy Holidays’.
Generally, except in some ridiculous cases, it is not PC pandering.
People say Happy Holidays because they wish the person to whom they’re speaking to have a happy whatever holiday they happen to celebrate. If I don’t know what holiday you celebrate, I’ll say Happy Holidays, if I do know, I’ll say Merry Christmas. It’s not an effort to not offend, it’s just an effort to not assume things about my fellow man/woman/other.
The people over here who would truly be offended by hearing a Merry Christmas delivered to them in kindness and sincerity are as few and as loony as those who feel that the use of ‘Happy Holidays’ is somehow a sign that James Bond is a Manlier Man than Indiana Jones.
Sorry I didn’t get back sooner – my face was under attack by a crazed hygienist.
It’s November 1. My brother’s is on the 28th. In fact, I was born on All Saints Day, my brother on Thanksgiving, my sister on Easter, my father on May Day, and my great grandmother on Christmas.
On the rabid atheist thing – that sounds pretty extreme, but also pretty mythical. I have never once met someone who attacked me for saying “God bless you.” Maybe my experience is unusual, but to me it sounds like just one more made-up “fact” about atheists.
Since I actually know most of the people I (grumpily) greet during this time of year, I tend to wish then good will couched in the phrase of their celebration.
I do tend to say “Happy Christmas” rather than “Merry Christmas,” following the example of the American C. Clement Moore (or whomever he plagiarized) rather than the example set by that long-winded Brit, Dickens.
I like Happy Christmas better too. It’s strange that in the States, we rarely use the word Merry but we use it for Christmas. Happy Christmas kills the alliteration of the two M’s.
I guess I’ve been fortunate to have never met anyone like this. Just goes to show you that any demographic has its share of loons.
Ms.
She attacked my mouth with horrible medieval instruments of torture, and removed the tooth crud I’ve been saving up for the holidays. “Dentistry.” Phht. What a crock.
Speaking of the ‘militant atheist’ thing, are people in the States really going up to one another all the time and saying “God bless you”? I’ve never heard anyone do this up here, except sometimes in church, and most sneezes of my acquaintance have been greeted with “Gesundheit” or, at most, “Bless you.”
Yes, quite so, ‘The Brits’ think everyone is C of E. Every single fucker in the universe, including pet mice. It’s a good job you ‘amended’ your prior statement, heavens, you might look like a bit of a twat otherwise.
Then again, maybe you’re fighting ignorance by increasing its mass until it becomes unstable?
“Happy Holidays” has been around for a long time, and in years past I always took it to mean Christmas, Chanukah, and New Year’s. It does not offend me. It never did.
However, I will often say “Merry Christmas” because most people I know celebrate it. When I was a clerk at a store that sold Christmas stuff, I said “Merry Christmas” to the customers who were buying Christmas stuff. The manager of the store wanted us to say “Happy Holidays” to everyone and sometimes I remembered to do that, but it seemed to be the ultimate of stupid to say that to someone wearing a Santa Hat, you know?
So for most people I encounter, “Merry Christmas” is a non-offensive and perfectly appropriate thing to say. “Happy Holidays” is fine too—I often won’t notice the distinction, up until someone else tells me I should say “Happy Holidays” to the person wearing the Christmas sweatshirt. Then I get offended. By the stupidity.
Happy Christmas kills the alliteration of the two M’s.