"Happy Holidays" Offensive?

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I have never been able to understand the hoopla over the phrase “Happy Holidays”. As near as I can tell it originated from an Irving Berlin song from the 1942 musical Holiday Inn, which starred Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. It was also the film that introduced the song “White Christmas” to the world.
(I actually prefer the movie Holiday Inn over White Christmas by a slight margin.)
Anyway, the point of the song had to do with the plot. Bing and Fred starting an Inn in Vermont that was only open on holidays. It had nothing to do with minimizing Christmas. It grew into a greeting that acknowledges the holidays from Thanksgiving to New Years.
What is wrong with that?
What is wrong with the politeness of acknowledging the holidays of other religions?
People seem to forget it was Irving Berlin, a Jew, who wrote White Christmas.
 
JustaServant said:
I have never been able to understand the hoopla over the phrase “Happy Holidays”. As near as I can tell it originated from an Irving Berlin song from the 1942 musical Holiday Inn, which starred Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. It was also the film that introduced the song “White Christmas” to the world.
(I actually prefer the movie Holiday Inn over White Christmas by a slight margin.)
Anyway, the point of the song had to do with the plot. Bing and Fred starting an Inn in Vermont that was only open on holidays. It had nothing to do with minimizing Christmas. It grew into a greeting that acknowledges the holidays from Thanksgiving to New Years.
What is wrong with that?
What is wrong with the politeness of acknowledging the holidays of other religions?
People seem to forget it was Irving Berlin, a Jew, who wrote White Christmas.
Click to expand...
There’s nothing wrong with it. We live in a changing world, and Christmas doesn’t hold the same significance for everyone.

Personally, I’ve only ever said “Merry Christmas,” and nobody’s ever given me guff about it.
 
JustaServant said:
I have never been able to understand the hoopla over the phrase “Happy Holidays”. As near as I can tell it originated from an Irving Berlin song from the 1942 musical Holiday Inn, which starred Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. It was also the film that introduced the song “White Christmas” to the world.
(I actually prefer the movie Holiday Inn over White Christmas by a slight margin.)
Anyway, the point of the song had to do with the plot. Bing and Fred starting an Inn in Vermont that was only open on holidays. It had nothing to do with minimizing Christmas. It grew into a greeting that acknowledges the holidays from Thanksgiving to New Years.
What is wrong with that?
What is wrong with the politeness of acknowledging the holidays of other religions?
People seem to forget it was Irving Berlin, a Jew, who wrote White Christmas.
Click to expand...
I think it’s “offensive” because it easily detracts from the importance of Christmas. As you can see, Christmas in modern culture is reduced to a secular holiday with some religious roots (St Nicholas’ feast is on December 6, not even on Christmas, so I don’t really like Santa. Plus St Nicholas wasn’t fat, or married, or lived in the North Pole, or fly on a magical sled with reindeer)
But saying Happy Holidays it’s such a small minor detail that it’s really negligible. The way Christians prepare for Christmas is more important than non-Christians talking about Christmas. If one were to say Happy Holidays, one might mean “Happy feasts of Sts Adam and Eve, Christmas, and Solemnity of Mary” (although I doubt this)

Happy Holidays
 
If there’s one thing you see over and over in life, it’s once clear waters getting muddied up later.

Once, particularly in the earlies nineties I’m thinking, the issue was clearly whether
Merry Christmas should be avoided on the grounds that it could offend some.

At some point some people made the issue into whether Happy Holidays is offensive, but that was certainly not the issue a couple decades ago.
 
Offensive. Yes. If someone wants to be unhappy, it would be inappropriate for me to tell him to be otherwise. 😉
 
JustaServant said:
I have never been able to understand the hoopla over the phrase “Happy Holidays”. As near as I can tell it originated from an Irving Berlin song from the 1942 musical Holiday Inn, which starred Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. It was also the film that introduced the song “White Christmas” to the world.
(I actually prefer the movie Holiday Inn over White Christmas by a slight margin.)
Anyway, the point of the song had to do with the plot. Bing and Fred starting an Inn in Vermont that was only open on holidays. It had nothing to do with minimizing Christmas. It grew into a greeting that acknowledges the holidays from Thanksgiving to New Years.
What is wrong with that?
What is wrong with the politeness of acknowledging the holidays of other religions?
People seem to forget it was Irving Berlin, a Jew, who wrote White Christmas.
Click to expand...
I’ve said Happy Holidays before just to save my breath. But, I guess I’ll be going back to Merry Christmas just to keep proving my point to cultural Marxists who are offended at everything. :rolleyes:

This is what happens when we have language and thought police.
 

  1. *]“Happy Holidays” can easily be a historical throwback to the phrase “Happy Holy Days.” No need for Christians to find it offensive, then,
    *]“Happy Holidays” encompasses both Christmas (for Christians) and New Year’s. No other term does this.
 
I have no problem with the term “Happy Holidays”. Along with “Merry Christmas”, people in my family have used the term ever since I can remember. What I don’t like is people or groups saying we have to use the term in order not to offend anyone, especially non-Christians.
 
I don’t like it because it’s forced because it’s not something you would say your mom and dad or your siblings or your best friend. And point of order we don’t say Happy Spring holiday the Easter and Passover are usually around the same time. also, in the United States Christmas is the only holiday we have till we get to say Merry instead of happy don’t ruin that for us, secularization! I actually got very angry at a friend of mine a few years ago who I knew from church because she said that to me she obviously knows my religion. It’s not that people say happy holidays that’s the problem it’s the people won’t say Merry Christmas. I’m sure there’s going to be a whole generation of children that is going to think that on the 25th of December they are celebrating a holiday called holiday
 
JustaServant said:
I have never been able to understand the hoopla over the phrase “Happy Holidays”.
Click to expand...
I don’t understand it either. You wish someone a bit of happiness and they get all bent of out shape. Makes no sense.

Of course, some people are always on the lookout for a way to be offended.
 
I don’t have an issue with the phrase itself, but I do take issue with the pressure one receives to use it vs. Merry Christmas in some parts of the country.

In the early 90s, I remember the TV stations around me used to say “Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah.” Then, I remember them saying “Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Kwanzaa.” After a few years of “Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Kwanzaa,” it changed to “Happy Holidays.”

So I understand it. However, what bothers me is now many people have fear to say “Merry Christmas.”

When I was in elementary school back in the 1980s, we used to have a “Christmas play.” And when I started high school back in the early 1990s, we had a school wide Christmas party. The school calendar called it “Christmas Break,” etc.

Then, either before I graduated (or right after when my brothers were in high school) to Christmas parties stopped and the it became “winter break.” Which was silly because my school district had zero jews and zero muslims. Everyone I knew when to Church.

On Christmas Eve two years a go, I stopped in the supermarket to grab something for my Seven Fishes Dinner, and wished the cashier a Merry Christmas, and she was greatly offended and replied with “I’m Jewish” with mean tone in her voice. I mentioned it to my Jewish mother-in-law, who said “what a jerk.”

I’ve heard other Jewish people say, “if someone wishes you Merry Christmas, you should simply say ‘thank you and Merry Christmas to you’ because they are saying it as an act of goodwill. To correct them or take offense, causes division, etc.”

So for me, I say Merry Christmas unless I don’t know what they celebrate. Then I would say, “Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah”

I would only use Happy Holidays in writing, when I don’t know what the person celebrates. But I try not to use it in speech.
 
There is certainly a place for the expression. Problem is, that “Holidays” can also be understood as a PC-driven purging of the legitimate usage of “Christmas” - as in the number of decorated trees in public places now referred to by fiat as “Holiday Trees.” Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s are certainly the “holidays,” but I cannot recall any “Thanksgiving Tree” or “New Year’s Tree.” Nevertheless, the government has re-named such trees in public.

That’s the problem: The usage “Happy Holidays” can also be experienced as a form of government speech control.
 
👍 though we have to share the Gospel with the Jews and a way to do that is to say Mary Christmas.
 
JustaServant said:
I have never been able to understand the hoopla over the phrase “Happy Holidays”. As near as I can tell it originated from an Irving Berlin song from the 1942 musical Holiday Inn, which starred Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. It was also the film that introduced the song “White Christmas” to the world.
(I actually prefer the movie Holiday Inn over White Christmas by a slight margin.)
Anyway, the point of the song had to do with the plot. Bing and Fred starting an Inn in Vermont that was only open on holidays. It had nothing to do with minimizing Christmas. It grew into a greeting that acknowledges the holidays from Thanksgiving to New Years.
What is wrong with that?
What is wrong with the politeness of acknowledging the holidays of other religions?
People seem to forget it was Irving Berlin, a Jew, who wrote White Christmas.
Click to expand...
There is absolutely nothing wrong with it and I am so pleased, though somewhat surprised, to see some Catholics here agreeing. Because from my experience it’s the religious “right” and other Christians of a conservative persuasion that make a fuss about there being a “war on Christmas” in their minds. There is no such war.

I have in the past sent cards with “Merry Christmas” on them. To those whom I knew celebrated Christmas. This year the cards I sent said “Happy Holidays” and when I ran out of those, I opened another box. Those said “Seasons Greetings”. And I wrote Merry Christmas inside. Had I sent to someone of the Jewish faith, I’d have written “Happy Hanukkah”. If you call my phone right now you will receive a voice mail greeting that begins with Hi and Happy Holidays! I recorded it for the time period Thanksgiving-New Years. I live in a diverse area, racially, culturally, and religiously. During Ramadan, I’ve wished my Muslim neighbors a blessed Ramadan. At Christmas they’ve been known to wish me “Merry Christmas”. I never have understood the hoopla either.
 
JustaServant said:
I have never been able to understand the hoopla over the phrase “Happy Holidays”. As near as I can tell it originated from an Irving Berlin song from the 1942 musical Holiday Inn, which starred Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. It was also the film that introduced the song “White Christmas” to the world.
(I actually prefer the movie Holiday Inn over White Christmas by a slight margin.)
Anyway, the point of the song had to do with the plot. Bing and Fred starting an Inn in Vermont that was only open on holidays. It had nothing to do with minimizing Christmas. It grew into a greeting that acknowledges the holidays from Thanksgiving to New Years.
What is wrong with that?
What is wrong with the politeness of acknowledging the holidays of other religions?
People seem to forget it was Irving Berlin, a Jew, who wrote White Christmas.
Click to expand...
If they want to make a deal about how they don’t want to recognize Christmas with ‘Happy Holidays’ or ‘Season Greetings’ that’s fine (Some may not be sayin’ it for that reason but some I believe are), I’m sayin’ Merry Christmas, it’s Christmas time and I’m going to celebrate it, I don’t care what they do.

As for ‘Happy Holidays’ etc the offensiveness of it or not I believe all depends on why they say it (Some may be sincere, in that case no offense taken and Merry Christmas :)).

I hope this has helped

God Bless & Merry Christmas 🙂

Thank you for reading
Josh
 
phil19034 said:
On Christmas Eve two years a go, I stopped in the supermarket to grab something for my Seven Fishes Dinner, and wished the cashier a Merry Christmas, and she was greatly offended and replied with “I’m Jewish” with mean tone in her voice. I mentioned it to my Jewish mother-in-law, who said “what a jerk.”
Click to expand...
Who was the ‘jerk’? You, or the cashier?
 
Happy Holidays is a natural for me to say as Merry Christmas and both are appropriate…
 
My kids were raised secularly. My grandkids are being raised this way as well. We all say Merry Christmas. We Will get “seasons greetings” cards from family that is Christian or happy holidays as well.
Just yesterday I was watching cnn and Jake Tapper whom I believe is Jewish was wishing his guests et al. Merry Christmas.
Sometimes I will say happy holidays sometimes Merry Christmas. I believe all of the store checkout cashiers this year have said Merry Christmas.
I know people of the Jewish faith, Buddhist tradition, and those of us with no tradition at all that “celebrate” Christmas in our own non-Christian way.
Happy Holidays to all however you choose to observe.
 
Well… if some one says Happy Holidays to me then that’s fine…I say Merry Christmas in return…Christmas (Christ’s Mass) is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ…and that is what I…as a Christian am doing…if that offends someone then I’m not going to apologize for my faith…same if a Jewish or Muslim person said Happy Hanukkah or Happy Ramadan to me…that is their religion and I respect their belief…so I would say the same to them in return…
 
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