Christmas is getting closer by the minute. In just over three days now we’ll all be opening terrible neck ties, hideous sweaters and gift cards to places we never shop. And we’ll do it with the biggest smiles ever.
One interesting discussion that seems to creep up ever year is the decision of how to greet people during the time period between Black Friday and sometime during the first week or two of January. Is it Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays or the oh-so-awkward Season’s Greetings? Basically, do you walk the politically correct line or not?
Let’s consider the definition of the word politically correct.
Merriam-Wesbter
Conforming to a belief that language and practices which could offend political sensibilities (as in matters of sex or race) should be eliminated.
Urban Dictionary
A way that we speak in America so we don’t offend whining pussies.
My apologies, but I don’t give a crap about whining pussies. The overwhelming fear people have about offending someone is beyond absurd. It’s almost comical. You have these awkward interactions between people at cash registers and neither person knows what to say. Most company policies go the “Happy Holidays” route, and that is fine. But what if a customer says Merry Christmas first? Then what? Or what if your beliefs are so strong that you prefer to say Merry Christmas? How do you proceed? Would a company fire an employee who won’t stick to the Happy Holidays montra? Sadly, the answer to that is probably yes.
As my good friend Ben pointed out on Twitter, this conversation is more about stupidity than anything else. If people aren’t smart enough to figure out that I don’t mean to offend them when I say “Merry Christmas” I don’t want to talk to them anyway.
I asked my followers about this today and the response was overwhelmingly pro-Merry Christmas. Here are some choice answers.
@benmcneely: Let me revise and extent my remarks: Use whichever greeting you want. If someone gets offended, punch them in the face.
@mccaulpaul28: Neither. Tell store clerks to hurry up and scan my damn items, run my card and bag my stuff. I’m a busy man.
@austin__johnson: Happy Holidays… is what terrorists say; Merry Christmas.
@jeremymoorenc: Merry Christmas sounds heartfelt and personal. Happy Holidays sounds douchey.
@RnR_NCSU: Merry X-Mas. Just ’cause I’m a big fan of the letter X.
Stay tuned for Wednesday’s Whine and much more about Christmas in the next couple of days. As usual, I’ll leave you with an awful Christmas song…
Actually, I don’t think this would fit within 140 characters minus the @ tag, but I consider “happy holidays” the more efficient way of summarizing the appropriate greeting from a few days before Thanksgiving on. In short, you cover Thanksgiving (from the point in time I use as reference), Christmas/all the other religious holidays, Boxing Day (non-religious), New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day, and potentially MLK Jr. Day.
On the flip side, most holiday music played around this time just says “Christmas.”
And on the other flip side, I’d rather people complain about getting god-awful ties, hideous sweaters, and useless gift cars. Speaks more about how little people bother to know each other these days (and how little people actually know about modern fashion and useful places to give gift cards to).