Re: Country Related: Christmas
| From: | Padraic Brown <pbrown@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, December 22, 1998, 22:40 |
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On Tue, 22 Dec 1998, Raymond A. Brown wrote:
> ......
> >On a related note, when did the British punt their traditional
> >merry Christmas (still preserved over here) in favor of a happy one?
>
> News to me - my Christmas is still merry and my New Year happy :)
>
> Indeed, I was so alarmed by John's news that I took a look at all our
> Christmas Cards - 100% MERRY!!! Not a happy Christmas among them ;) Seems
> neither the card makers nor our many friends, acquaintances, neighbors etc
> are aware of this either ;)
Well, over here in Merkia, the _stereotypical_ English form is Happy Xmas.
We get it on pseudoEnglish cards; pseudoEnglish tv characters; and from
"real" tv characters. I can think of Being Served and Mr Bean in which
"Happy Christmas" was the greeting of choice.
>
> >This is now a marked difference between the dialects.
>
> Which dialects?
Prsumably Standard Merkin (us) and Real Enlgish (you).
Padraic.