Re: Country Related: Christmas

On Tue, 22 Dec 1998, Eric Christopherson wrote:

> Padraic Brown wrote:
> >
> > On Tue, 22 Dec 1998, Sally Caves wrote:
> >
> > > So what I suggest, ...[is] that we share ways to say "Happy Holidays,"
> > > or "Merry Christmas,"  or "Happy Hannukah" or WHATEVER in our various
> > > conlangs.
> >
> > I doubt very much that the PC rubbish has hit Kemr, so I think "Happy
> > Holidays" is out.
>
> Did the phrase "happy holidays" come into currency because of
> political correctness? I always assumed it was older than that. I've
> known it all of my twenty years, although maybe PC had gained a
> foothold by then.
The actual phrase "happy holidays" may well be older than the 15 or more
years of political correctness.  But the overwhelmingly ubiquity of "happy
holidays" in late 20th cen. Merkia is undoubtedly due to the paranoia of
ticking off the [insert name of nonchristian group here] who do not
celebrate Xmas.  It's become so insidiously pervasive that the DRE (at the
Catholic church I work at) used the phrase "happy holidays" in her
catechetic newsletter -- whose reading audience is 100% RC!

A Hindu friend of mine summed it up pretty well: 'It's stupid.  This is
the USA, a Christian country.  I am Hindu, but living here, I would
_expect_ people to say Merry Xmas.  How can I be offended at that?'

I'm not a whole lot older than you, but even I can remember when _all_ the
cards were "Merry Christmas".  With the obvious exception of the Jewish
section, where they were _all_ "Happy Hannukha".

Apart from which, there is _no_ USA over *there* to pollute the world with
some of its screwball ideas.  They've got screwball ideas go leor as it
is.

>
> Anyway, my Lainesco greeting is "Felic' naida'" where c' is c-cedilla
> and a' is a-acute. It's pronounced /Pel'iS nai'Da/ where /P/ is
> bilabial F.
>
Now, I've not heard of Lainesco before.  What is it?  Thus far it seems
Romance...how does it fit in?  Any web page, etc.?

Padraic.