Re: Country Related: Christmas

>On Tue, 22 Dec 1998, Eric Christopherson wrote:
>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!
Well, personally, I see no problem with trying to be resopectful of other's
religions (my "atheism until I see proof," for instance). No more than I
see a problem in celebrating Christmas myself because of family background
and tradition.

I myself don't really believe that Political Correctness exists -- term
that I first heard in the late 70's in a joking context at Brown (where I
suspect, but can't prove that it originated). The term has been popularized
by a bunch of neo-conservative types as proof that "liberals" have finally
"gone too far." Conveniently ignored is the fact that the attitudes of
these same conservative dingbats are much more successful and powerful,
especially as reflected in the legal and social codes of this country at
all levels. In a country where you can be _literally_ crucified and beaten
to death for being gay and in the wrong bar, whining about a few radical
English departments in a minority of universities should be a transparent
giveaway.

>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?'
No offense to your friend but he's wrong.

One of the things that I am very fond of is the part of the US Constitution
that ensures that the government _not_ establish a religion, Christian, or
otherwise. We are supposed to have freedom of conscience, though in
practice that doesn't extend verry far, as anyone in a non-mainstream
religion will soon discover, if they want to practice polygamy, any form of
ecstatic religion that uses plant-derived (or other) neurochemicals, or
animal sacrifice.

In a feeble attempt to add some conlang related content to this posting, I
thought I'd add a Seasonal greeting in Toono, my latest
language-in-progress. Dapnant would not have such a greeting, being not
only non-Christian, but pre-Christian.

I'm pretty sure the Toono are non-Christian too, but since they're not
intended as a gloss on Lovecraftian mythology, it doesn't seem so out of
character for them to learn to say Merry Christmas, if they ran into some
Christians, rather than doing something nasty to them.

So, Merry Christmas, Stuoxristo Chauli.
                     Stuo=xris-to Chauli
                     day =Christ  Good

I gave the morpheme boudary (=) and the syllable boundaries (-), as perhaps
of interest. The vowels (5-vowel system) are pretty much cardinal/Italian
in quality. Syllable length (light, heavy, super-heavy) is very important
in Toono, so the syllabification may help. All dipthongs are heavy (double
length). [pronunciation note: uo = wo (u is the glide), and au = aw (same)]
Xris is also a long syllable, as there's a consonant in the coda. [Stuox
would is a superheavy (triple-length) syllable, but not in this word,
because the x is part of the onset of the following syllable, not the coda
of the first one]

I've not worked out the precise rules for accent, but it must be on the
second syllable in both of these words. Whether it's pure pitch, pure
stress, or a combination is something I keep fluctuating on.

Happy Holidays to all, and apologies for ranting...

   -- David
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David Durand              dgd@cs.bu.edu  \  david@dynamicDiagrams.com
Boston University Computer Science        \  Sr. Analyst
http://www.cs.bu.edu/students/grads/dgd/   \  Dynamic Diagrams
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