"Happy Holidays" v. "Merry Christmas"

[BigSoonerFan]

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"Happy Holidays" is a saying that has existed for a long time. When I was a kid, I barely knew what Hannukah was and never heard of Kwanzaa, and everyone told me that "Happy Holidays" referred to the TWO holidays that Christians celebrate during this time. Why waste another six syllables saying "and a happy new year?"

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yet wouldnt Happy Holidays still offend atheists...

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I can't imagine any atheist being offended by this. Any atheist can appreciate the kind act of exchanging gifts, spending time with his/her family, and having off from work. That's what Christmas always meant to me, and I don't even see any reason to be offended by the words "Merry Christmas." It's already pretty secularized and commercialized anyway.

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...and muslims?

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Who the [censored] cares? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

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For once, I agree with ole Hairball. Christmas is the name of the holiday and to get sensitive about the "Christ" part of it. Many words have evolved past their original intent. Get over it.

[hmkpoker]

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For once, I agree with ole Hairball.

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uhhhhh...I'm bald from nose to thigh [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

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Merry Christmas offended people, so it was widely replaced with Happy Holidays (to account for the small % of our population who is Jewish, non Jewish/Christian Africans, and/or indiginous germanic tribal living in America, I suppose), yet wouldnt Happy Holidays still offend atheists and muslims?

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Or maybe holidays doesnt need to be taken literally and can just be referring to the "holiday" or vacation that we get at this time of year, not to mention new years is often included when one says happy holidays.

[KeysrSoze]

Neither offends me. Actually I find it funny that first Christmas and its trappings were co-opted from various other solstice religious celebrations, then the god Mammon took it back.

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Merry Christmas offended people, so it was widely replaced with Happy Holidays (to account for the small % of our population who is Jewish, non Jewish/Christian Africans, and/or indiginous germanic tribal living in America, I suppose), yet wouldnt Happy Holidays still offend atheists and muslims?

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I believe this all started when various organizations/retailers made a conscious effort to shift from saying "Merry Christmas" to "Happy Holidays" (or whatever). It has more to do with avoiding potential offence than anyone actually complaining about anything. Store X wants everybody to spend $2000 at this time of year - why limit it to people who celebrate Christmas? Why even hint at discouraging them? Especially when "non-Christian" is a faster growing demographic than "Christian"?

As for the offensiveness of the phrase "Merry Christmas", it primarily stems from the root word "Christ" which means "annointed one" as in "annointed to be the Son of God". Now I don't care about this. I like Christmas for it's secular charms and I'm just as willing to keep calling it Christmas as I'm willing to say that today is "Tuesday" (i.e. the day of the Norse God Tyr).

The really silly thing about all this is that there is precious little about Christmas that is actually Christian in origin. The "reason for the season" has far more to do with the solstice than Jesus.

On a side note, The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert did a wonderful job on this issue this past week. I especially loved this jab at Bill O'Reilly (paraphrased).

Bill O : I don't understand why anyone would find "Merry chritmas" offensive. It's not.

A different interview:
Bill O : Saying "Happy Holidays" is deeply offensive to Christians.

[mostsmooth]

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"Happy Holidays" is a simple phrase that applies to everyone.

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no it doesnt.

[hmkpoker]

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"Happy Holidays" is a simple phrase that applies to everyone.

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no it doesnt.

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Close enough.

[mostsmooth]

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"Happy Holidays" is a simple phrase that applies to everyone.

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no it doesnt.

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Close enough.

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yeah, its close enough that they might as well stick with merry christmas.

[hmkpoker]

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"Happy Holidays" is a simple phrase that applies to everyone.

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no it doesnt.

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Close enough.

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yeah, its close enough that they might as well stick with merry christmas.

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I'd be fine with that too.

[RJT]

Kip,

Happy Holidays is in vogue this year. What I find intriguing, though, is the “word” moreso. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

RJT