# The holidays...goddammit **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 31, 2018, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holidays-goddammit/826962 "2018-12-31T04:56:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holidays-goddammit/826962/21 "2018-12-31T20:23:24Z")
I like the thread title. Simple and elegant. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holidays-goddammit/826962/22 "2018-12-31T20:43:53Z")
My dad died on New Year’s Eve so yeah, this time of the year can take a long walk off a short pier. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2018, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holidays-goddammit/826962/23 "2018-12-31T20:48:25Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > Nowhere is this more obvious than in the greetings. Good lord, what a monumental clusterfrag _that_ became, eh? It’s reached the point where I’m actively _afraid_ to use any greeting whatsoever. But a lot of people do, and that bugs me. Not what they choose to say (they can say “frivolous winter solstice” for all I fricking care), but that they’re compelled to say anything at all…and to everyone they meet. Is there _any_ other event, situation, or tradition outside of the military where so many people feel obligated to continually acknowledge it to absolutely everyone? Compliance! Obey the mainstream! Good rant, but I still don’t understand this part. What’s up with hatred for greetings? YOU don’t have to use any greetings but “Hello” or whatever other greeting you normally use. And then if someone says one to you, just repeat it back to them. Is it really that hard? I don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2019, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holidays-goddammit/826962/24 "2019-01-01T03:19:35Z")
> [@BrickBat](#): > > I got a bullet hole in my roof that way. New years eve. Newer housing development adjacent to wooded area where a few older existing houses were in what was then “the country”. > > Was inside and heard the normal barrage of fireworks that sounded like the fall of Saigon. Heard a loud but slightly muffled “crack” sound…kinda’ felt it too. I figured a spent rocket hit the house. Found no evidence the next day searching the yard and roof ( from the ground ). Didn’t realize what happened till several months later when I had a roof leak. Wet spot on the wall originating where the wall meets the ceiling next to the fireplace chimney. My own searching and corrective action for likely sources of it ( sealing gutters, eaves, chimney flashing ) didn’t solve the problem. I called a roofer. After clomp-clomping around he called down to me “Do you realize you have a bullet hole in your roof?”. He pulled up a shingle to reveal a neat round hole at least 1/2 inch in diameter. ( Shotgun “slug”? ) My wry but truthful answer was “Guess not!”. We went up into my attic and found the wood splintered where it came in, but could find no further evidence of it, nor any other penetration. Problem repaired, but… > > I got to thinking: What if it were the 4th of July…had I been on the back patio cooking out…and the slug landed a mere 20 feet away from the roof spot in its trajectory? Lights out for me would be my guess. I was in Baghdad when Iraq won an important soccer game, everyone was firing in the air. We were out of booze, so when I ran to my apartment to get another bottle when a round hit the pavement near me. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2019, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holidays-goddammit/826962/25 "2019-01-01T03:34:49Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I was in Baghdad when Iraq won an important soccer game, everyone was firing in the air. We were out of booze, so when I ran to my apartment to get another bottle when a round hit the pavement near me. Mr.Wrekkers real nickname is Ricochet because he shot at a feral hog and the bullet hit in a strange way and it ricocheted and he shot himself in the leg. No one would have believed it but there were 4 witnesses to the event. Bullets some times have a mind of their own. They are dangerous folks. Don’t shoot unless you know what you’re aiming at. The sky is not a target. Don’t do it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-holidays-goddammit/826962.md?page=1)