"happy holidays, you bastard"

[baratron]

A Thing About My Brain. I realised cycling through the town on Saturday just why I hate the American phrase "Happy Holidays" so much. It's because it's a shorthand for "Happy Christmas / Hannukah / Kwanzaa / Diwali / Solstice / Fill-in-the-blank". As in, "I don't know you well enough to know which particular festival you celebrate, so I'm going to wish you a happy all of them. Never mind that you celebrate perhaps a maximum of two of these events, have a happy Christmas and Hannukah and Kwanzaa and Diwali and Solstice and...".

I realised also that I don't have a problem with "Happy Holiday", singular. Because in that case it doesn't matter which of the religious or secular festivals the person is celebrating, nor are you trying to make any assumptions. Instead, you're wishing that the other person will have a peaceful rest from work and/or an enjoyable time with their family for a few days. Holiday in the sense of "public holiday" rather than the sense of "festival".

Yes, I am weird. This is not news.

Comments

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Back in my non-multicultural Christian-default youth (in Canada, although overrun with US culture), I had the impression that "Happy Holidays" meant Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Also, maybe we called the break from school "Christmas Holidays" instead of "Christmas Holiday", not sure though.

I don't know whether it was intended then as a generic greeting that would include other holidays, or just a slightly-secular way of saying Merry Christmas, or what.

I do see what you're saying about what it implies now, and I understand why it bugs you.

[otterylexa.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my default read of that phrase is "happy christmas and new year, and the intervening days".

[ludy]

i don't speak american but i always thought it meant happy thanksgiving plus happy seasonal holiday of choice (plus happy new year?) which would definatly be holidays plural.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

I think you may be mistaken about the origins of Happy Holidays. I believe it began as a way to wish someone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year at the same time with a single greeting / card / whatever. It certainly long predates mass public awareness of other holidays over here.