What’s in a word?
Happy Christmas
From time to time, words used in the USA and the UK have completely different meanings. Typically we don’t bother to notice and because of modern communication mostly we all understand the issues and just get on with life. Every now and then though, someone gets a bee in their bonnet and starts a campaign or protests or something over one of these anomalies.
“Merry Christmas” is one such occasionally hot potato. Here in the USA, there is often protests when people don’t say “Merry Christmas” (although honestly I’ve never really noticed it not being used) while in England that phrase had an altogether different meaning; so much so that in our house we were told NOT to use it and to use the more traditional English “Happy Christmas” instead! You see, the word “Merry” really had only one use back then in England - to indicate that alcohol had been consumed and perhaps in rather larger quantities that sensible.
Despite the word having come from England and despite the word actually originally meaning nothing bad at all, it still greats my gears. I rarely say “Merry Christmas” but often “Happy Christmas”. If I’m ever heard saying “Merry Christmas” it is because I’m avoiding conflict and intentionally adapting to culture, but I’m saying “Happy Christmas” inside my head!
Is it important? No, not even a tiny bit, and yet it still irks me that people protest something like that. I’m weird like that, on one hand really don’t care, on the other the time is half past eleven NOT eleven thirty!
The really important thing is that Christmas is remembered - and as far as I can see, there really isn’t much danger of that going away anytime soon!
Sometimes I think such debates are more about remembering things the way they never were while forgetting that how we behave, think and speak, our attitudes and beliefs, actions, cares and concerns, are all going to shape the way things will BE in the future. Instead of getting angry about how “things are”, let’s try to remember we can shape how they “will be”.
Happy Christmas.
