A thought just occurred to me.
There are those that think it is better to say “Happy Holidays” rather than some religiously biased phrase like “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Chanukah,” etc.
A large portion of those that argue this point are atheist or agnostic at best. And this amuses me. Because instead of focusing on one deity by choosing the holiday, you’re opening it up for ALL of the deities to come in and have a sit-down.
from the merriam webster site (http://www.m-w.com):
Main Entry: 1hol·i·day 
Pronunciation: ‘hä-l&-“dA, British usually ‘hä-l&-dE
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hAligdæg, from hAlig holy + dæg day
Pronunciation: ‘hä-l&-“dA, British usually ‘hä-l&-dE
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hAligdæg, from hAlig holy + dæg day
It’s a HOLY day. This, then, opens a whole new set of definitions:
Main Entry: ho·ly
Pronunciation: ‘hO-lE
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): ho·li·er; -est
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hAlig; akin to Old English hAl whole — more at WHOLE
1 : exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness
2 : DIVINE <for the Lord our God is holy — Psalms 99:9 (Authorized Version)>
3 : devoted entirely to the deity or the work of the deity <a holy temple> <holy prophets>
4 a : having a divine quality <holy love> b : venerated as or as if sacred <holy scripture> <a holy relic>
5 — used as an intensive <this is a holy mess> <he was a holy terror when he drank — Thomas Wolfe> — often used in combination as a mild oath <holy smoke>
Pronunciation: ‘hO-lE
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): ho·li·er; -est
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English hAlig; akin to Old English hAl whole — more at WHOLE
1 : exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness
2 : DIVINE <for the Lord our God is holy — Psalms 99:9 (Authorized Version)>
3 : devoted entirely to the deity or the work of the deity <a holy temple> <holy prophets>
4 a : having a divine quality <holy love> b : venerated as or as if sacred <holy scripture> <a holy relic>
5 — used as an intensive <this is a holy mess> <he was a holy terror when he drank — Thomas Wolfe> — often used in combination as a mild oath <holy smoke>
Hmm. OK.I can see where we should go with this next. We should just say Happy Days.
Or, people can stop being so uptight and just realize that if someone wishes them a Merry Christmas, it’s really OK. There’s no need to get all bunged up about it. If you want to protest or boycott the retail establishment of your choice, feel free. But maybe instead of worrying about whether they do or don’t wish you a Merry Christmas versus Happy Holidays, you should worry about something that’s going to have an impact for more than the 25 shopping days out of the year. Maybe you can focus on how the company treats their employees. My wife and I have not been to a WalMart store in nearly 4 years. This has nothing to do with their greeting. It had to do initially with how drained and unhappy we were after every shopping experience there. It later grew to incorporate disgust in how they treat their employees, how they crush local small-town competition, and how they’ve strayed from Sam Walton’s vision of carrying American Made merchandise.
That’s not to say Target isn’t as bad or some other retail store. But we’ve never had a bad Target experience, so for now, they have our business.
We are now standing a mere 7 days away from the world premiere of “Nashdance.” I can’t wait to see what Christi and Nash think of it. And I can’t wait until this weekend (did I mention that already??).
Happy Holy-days to you and yours.
Todd Skaggs Writes 