My wife noted that when our daughter saw Santa this year, he asked her her name. My wife said this was not in-line with the mythos. I say that she’s confusing Jesus and Santa. Santa keeps a list that he checks twice where he logs your behavior; but the mechanism how he knows who is who and what they’ve done isn’t explained… and that it doesn’t necessarily mean that he is omniscent.
Your thoughts?
Well, he also knows when you are sleeping, or awake. Which is a bit creepy, really.
If you steal a car after he checks his list for the second time, will you get away with it?
Santa is not omniscient. . .but many years ago, he gave really good gifts (for the time) to the Son of a Very Important Guy (in keeping with his-Santa’s-anonymity gig, he sent the gifts via three guys in bathrobes. . .) and has had access to ‘insider information’ ever since. 
Well, a list implies some kind of identifier to go with the attribute. A list that just says ‘Nice Nice Naughty Nice etc’ isn’t very useful. If he knows which attribute you’ve been assigned, he would have to know the identifier too . Unless Santa’s using some kind of unique numerical ID, name is the most likely identifier. So while Santa may not be omniscient, expecting him to know your name when he knows if you’ve been naughty or nice is reasonable.
Now, explain to me, why is the first thing Santa asks you when you meet him ‘Have you been good?’
Santa is only omnipresent, and only at Christmas. The rest of the year, all those creepy elves are watching you [del]masturbate[/del] sleep.
Some of the more elaborate and better-organized Santa events have helpers who pre-screen the children and surreptitiously pass the information to the big guy. Knowing the children’s names adds to the mystery and magic, but it isn’t an essential part of the mythos.
I know that **hotflungwok **posted to the Straight Dope message board on Friday Dec. 18, 2009. That does not mean I would recognize hotflungwok on sight.
Some of my elementary school teachers used to ask me what grade I thought I deserved.
I argued that we should pick a few iconic pieces of media that are near-canonical for Santa mythos. The discussion broke down when my wife suggested that Frosty the Snowman was a good reference. Of course he’d know Frosty… he’s the ONLY magical snowman made of Christmas snow. The Wife claimed he also knew Karen’s name. I said that I didn’t recall if he did or not, and even if he did it proves nothing. Whomever/whatever Santa is using to determine naughty/nice would have briefed Santa on Karen’s outstanding journey, selflessness and courage. Santa would know her name too.
The real test is if he knew all the supporting characters. And even then, it’s a 22-minute Rankin-Bass embellishment of a song about a snowman with Santa thrown in to wrap up the story. If you want to use an RB animagic story for Santa, you have to go with “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” If I remember correctly, Kris Kringle doesn’t already know everyone’s names.
Dude makes a list
and then* checks it*, twice?
Error correction?
That does not resemble the behavior of someone with [the ability to know anything that one chooses to know and can be known.](the ability to know anything that one chooses to know and can be known.)
Perhaps he’s not checking for his errors, but for last minute status changes?
"He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows if you’re awake . . . "
The change in verb implies that he can’t see you when you’re awake. He can only know if you’ve been bad or good. That sounds like limited omnicience to me. And it sounds like he can only tune in completely when he’s making the list. So he’s constrained by the list as well as by your state of consciousness. Unless he has his list with him, he won’t know your name. Sort of like a wizard without his wand or staff.
Santa has an innate ability, usable at will–“Detect Naughty, 10’ radius” similar to AD&D Paladins. There are rumors of a certain amulet that would block this ability, but use of that item is itself naughty.
Also, the 4th,5th, and 6th Amendments do not apply to Santa, as he is not a government agent. Ashes & Switches (or lumps of coal) do not constitute “Cruel and Unusual Punishment” either.
I would totally play a Santa Pally.
Santa has an executive secretarial staff that actually keeps the lists - he also employs a team of project managers to coordinate the details of the holiday season, and a logistics department that gets the right toy to the right house. Included on this team is a person whose job it is to whisper in his ear the name of the person he is about to meet - she keeps extensive binders and a guest list to all Santa events. She was in the bathroom.
The North Pole offers a competitive salary and a great benefits package. Plus its a fun place to work - as long as you aren’t in the bathroom when Santa needs a name. Then the jolly old elf fires you.
Well, according to the SNL special last night, he knows what you are doing when you are supposedy sleeping.
So, yeah.
In breaking news, PETA is organizing a protest over Santa’s abuse of [del]reindeer[/del] Christmas Kittens by forcing them to pull his sleigh.
Damn you, Oakminster, now you’ve forced me to try to explain PETA and their “Sea Kitten” movement, etc. to my 9YO daughter!
NO toys for you!
Naughty, naughty boy!
Be glad the Cold War is over. I remember at least one instance of the “Santa Tracking Radar” showing him losing radar contact over the Soviet Union. Cut to file footage of the U.S. Navy’s “Blue Angels” fighter demo team scrambling to go save Santa. Cue umpteen little tykes in the general vicintiy of Pensacola, Fl that year going “WAH! The Russians shot down Santa!”.
Fortunately for all of us, the valiant Blue Angles promptly located Santa, and escorted him in to Pensacola N.A.S…
No, he’s not omniscient - he’s dyslexic. That’s why sometimes he spells it Santa, and sometimes he spells it Satan.
Regards,
Shodan
Bold mine.
Jesus demonstrated that He as man didn’t know everything (IMHO just what He needed to know to do the work of the Holy Spirit:
Things of earth:
And
Things of Heaven:
I have sometimes heard that Santa, is the spirit of Jesus (which is the Holy Spirit of God) working through the people, but never that Santa is above Jesus. So If Jesus didn’t know everything, how would Santa. Santa would just know what he needed to to do the work God has for him.
John 11:35–Jesus wept.
Oak 4:20–A thread about Santa Claus is not a good place for bible thumping.