Yep, we really do - and we’ve been doing it for decades. I’ve heard it all my life, and I’m pushing 50. My parents once told me they’ve been hearing it all their lives, too, and dad is well into his 80’s.
Although as this thread shows, there’s a bit of backlash these days among some Christians.
God, mac_bolan00, are you that guy who returns a clerk’s Happy Holidays with a snarky-toned Merry Christmas while sporting a sneer and yanking your bags rudely out of the clerk’s hands? If so, you suck. Someone is trying to make a conscious effort to show tolerance and be inclusive and people like you have to douche up the whole sentiment.
I’ll wish people who I know celebrate Christmas a merry christmas on fucking Christmas. The 24th and 25th. As the OP said, one holiday at a time!
I’ll probably wish my Jewish friends and family a happy hanukkah on the 20th this year, but here’s a secret: Hanukkah’s a really minor holiday. It gets inflated in America due to it’s temporal proximity to Christmas as some sort of well-intentioned but misguided attempt to avoid the assumption that everyone observes Christmas. Conflating it with Christmas is, frankly, kind of insulting IMO.
After the 25th I will wish everyone a happy New Year, because everyone I know follows the Gregorian calendar.
If you somehow feel threatened by my refusal to both stretch a one-day holiday into a month-long glut of manufactured good cheer, I suggest you suck it the fuck up and deal. If you feel offended by my refusal to act as if your holiday is universal, you can go fuck yourself.
Americans are silly. One of the reasons the US dialect of English isn’t very attractive. “Merry Christmas” is rooted in two millennia or more of interesting history. “Happy Holiday” sounds like newspeak invented by busy bureaucrats at a soulless multinational business conglomerate. Bland and uninteresting. At least if you want a new word chose one with some soul to it, like “Merry Yuletide”. YMMW. Not really worth bickering over, but I have nothing better to do. To up-sex the thread a bit I propose that the USA sucks. I hope you get a collective STD and that the russkies nuke you.
Chanukah’s been around longer. Christmas is just an intrusive upstart.
Though neither of them are really all that important within their respective faiths. Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah are far more significant, and it’s my understanding that the key Christian holiday is Easter, while Christmas just gets more press because of the commercial angle of excessive gift-giving.
Like most social niceties it is meant to be general because it is for the generic types of social interactions. You tell someone to Have A Nice Day, without knowing if they are going to a party or a funeral.
If I have friend I might tell them to “enjoy their holiday” or that I wish them “happy holidays” (especially if I do not see them until after New Year’s), or “Merry Christmas”, specifically. But for people that I do not know, or in a setting with a mixed group of people “Happy Holidays” expresses a pleasant sentiment appropriate to most people.
It is also an accurate sentiment as all the event described are holidays, so the phrase does not diminish anyone’s holiday and respects them all.
Why shouldn’t they? I always say “Happy Holidays” equivalent (Schöne Feiertage) to people here.
And the reason is not political correctness - we are far less diversive, most people will celebrate Christmas even if atheist or agnostic; we don’t have Kwanzaa; not many people celebrate Hanukka, and the Muslims don’t get airtime, sadly.*
I use Happy Holidays because I know that people are looking forward to having time off from work, but I don’t know how they are going to spend it - with their nice family, with their awful family, all alone, in the disco with friends? I also don’t know when I will see them again - after Christmas, after New Year? In between? With me gone on vacation for holiday, and them, too, Happy holidays is more polite than starting 15 min. of inquisition to find out the circumstances for each individual (and then trying to remember correctly).
I hear some Muslims are doing similar merging now along the same reason.
Of course, with Muslims it’s a bit more difficult with the strict Moon calendar moving festivals around, while Hannukkah at least stays in midwinter every year.
Actually, it’s the “War on Stupid”. The problem is that Stupid, like zombies, just keeps getting back up unless you shoot it in just the right place (not the brain in this case, for obvious reasons).
Says the person who can’t be bothered to capitalize properly.
As a Jew I vastly prefer Happy Holidays to Happy Hanukkah.
Hanukkah is a fun but minor, bitty holiday made important by it’s proximity to Christmas. So this holiday has gained importance by the dominant Christian culture, not because of the values of my religion. If people really wanted to respect my culture, I’d rather they wished me a Happy New Year back in September when my truly important holidays had occurred. Instead, I have to twist my and my kid’s schedules in knots to be able to take time off to celebrate the really important holidays and yet I have people tripping over themselves trying to wish me a Happy Hanukkah, because someone else decided it was an important holiday.
Now, I’m clever enough to know that people are meaning well and take it in the spirit it was given, and am appreciative that people are trying to be inclusive. The thought really does count. But on another level it does irk me. Happy Holidays works better for me I’m going on winter break (a school holiday), New Year’s is coming up, we will have a pleasant Hanukkah- so Happy Holidays actually better reflects what’s important in my life.
Jews suck.
It’s not “happy holiday”, it’s "happy holidays. Yes, that’s a nitpick but the distinction is important. It’s not just one holiday, it’s acknowledging that there is more than one tradition and holiday over the fall/winter.
Maybe you think that’s silly. On the other hand, maybe you don’t live in a multi-cultural society and can afford to ignore anyone who isn’t exactly like you.
Er… I’m assuming you mean that in jest, but, you know, death threats (nuke us?) are sort of frowned upon in this forum. Even in the Pit.
Ok, then.
Same in Spanish with our Felices Fiestas. It’s a two for one (Christmas and New Year).
You are right, he’s Danish (not the most racially tolerant country in the world, if you ask me). Although to be fair I have never met a Dane quite like Rune, so he is either a jokester or we can blame all this on him being Faroese. 
No, this is the War on Happy Holidays.
Pretty soon they’ll be banning the song “Happy Holidays to you” and suppressing it in other ways.
As someone mentioned above, this goes for Christians at Christmas as well. It’s a minor holiday that gets a ton of attention because it falls in winter (a fun time to party!) and you get gifts (yay capitalism!). Easter is the important Christian holiday, but no one cares, and if you do, it isn’t easy to get off for Ash Wednesday and stuff either.
The December holidays are almost completely secular, and have been for a long time. They are based around it being a fun time to get out and do something instead of being cooped up alone in the cold, and because everyone likes presents (especially retailers). People should STFU about The War On Christmas, because it isn’t anything new. Here’s a thought; you want to make Jesus the reason for the season? Take down your Christmas tree, quit buying gifts, and get your ass to church. Otherwise you’re celebrating the same quasi-pagan capitalistic holiday as everyone else, and you’ve got no reason to get a bug up your ass about a friendly greeting.
Fucking hypocrite. You yourself just said earlier that you should reserve “Merry Christmas” for the actual day of Christmas. Until then, keep your fucking mouth shut.
I think it is just inate stupidity. Occam’s Razor and all that.
Where do they celebrate Saturnalia? Where? Where? I wanna go!
Are you not familiar with the shift key?