Christmas Euphemisms

@BlueVeins I very much doubt that pagans would be concerned, after all paganism is accepting of multiple gods.

@ninalanyon Christmas is just a rebranding of the Pagan festival of Yule anyway.

@JimboSaturn
That's my experience too

@DrWatson "Happy Holidays" is an American expression (first used in the 1860s), apparently - not really recognised in the UK where we have been using "Merry Christmas" since the 16th Century. My grandparents (both sets) lived in Whitechapel in the East End of London - the Jewish ghetto effectively - and they would not have recognised it either. Two nations divided by a common language.

@ArtieKat When Jews first immigrated to New York City, they tended to gravitate to particular neighborhoods -- "ghettos", so to speak. But by the time I was a kid growing up , Jews had moved to various suburbs and to other areas of the city. They no longer saw themselves as part of a ghetto. They had the expectation that they would be treated on equal footing with non-Jews in the society around them. This would NOT have been true of Jews in some other areas of the United States during the same time period, who had to endure societally accepted discrimination. That is why my response was very specific to a particular geographic area of the U.S. I don't think any Christian in the American deep south at the time would have ever said "Happy Holidays".

This might not be an example of the difference between UK English and US English (of which there are several) as much as it is an example of how English in both countries tends not to accommodate people with "ghetto" status.

@DrWatson Thanks for your thoughts

@ArtieKat

@Neoerectus e.g. "Keep the Saturn in Saturnalia" 😁😉

@ArtieKat Ya realize lavatory is just the basin by the latin word root, so maybe lavatory and crappertororium would more accurately describe rather than the euphemism (by your logic) of a word that just describes the wash basin.... Just sayin' 😏

@NerdyPotato Do you really think your fellow human beings are that bloody stupid?

@ArtieKat have you seen people on the internet? Yes! And even if you're convinced people will understand you mean more than you say, why not say what you really mean anyway? And even more important and puzzling: why would anyone insist on them saying something more limited than what they mean?

@ArtieKat If people weren't stupid, ads wouldn't exist. The idea that people make purchasing decisions super rationally dies the moment you walk out of Econ 101.

@NerdyPotato What's the matter with the old "Festive Greetings"? When I actually hear a Jew or a Muslim in Europe say they are offended by people wishing each other Happy Christmas I might take some notice. I'm an atheist with Jewish ancestry and I believe in Live and Let Live. Europe, North America and most of Australasia developed on Judaeo-Christian principles. To me "Happy Holidays" sounds like calling a toilet "the bathroom". If you want to crap or piss in your own bath that's up to you - don't expect me to embrace every new euphemism.

@ArtieKat there is nothing wrong with festive greetings. It's a good alternative for happy holidays. But do you even know what a euphemism is? And why are you so obsessed with linking toilets and crapping to the holiday season? 🤣

@NerdyPotato Quite right, I've no idea what a euphemism is.

@MasterLee Human beings are naturally religious. By all means stop public holidays for Christian festivals in Europe (or Islamic, or indeed Jewish ones, in the Middle East, etc, etc), but we'll end up with at least lowkey religious fervour about something else. We're about a decade away from NHSmas in the UK as it is.

@MasterLee Christmas is no longer a religious holiday when the majority of the people celebrating it are not religious as is the case here in Norway and to a very large extent in the UK. It is simply a celebration of family connections.