Just in time for Christmas

[RM]

SYDNEY (AFP) - Santas in Australia's largest city have been told not to use Father Christmas's traditional "ho ho ho" greeting because it may be offensive to women, it was reported Thursday.

Sydney's Santa Clauses have instead been instructed to say "ha ha ha" instead, the Daily Telegraph reported.

One disgruntled Santa told the newspaper a recruitment firm warned him not to use "ho ho ho" because it could frighten children and was too close to "ho", a US slang term for prostitute.

"Gimme a break," said Julie Gale, who runs the campaign against sexualising children called Kids Free 2B Kids.

"We are talking about little kids who do not understand that "ho, ho, ho" has any other connotation and nor should they," she told the Telegraph.

"Leave Santa alone."

A local spokesman for the US-based Westaff recruitment firm said it was "misleading" to say the company had banned Santa's traditional greeting and it was being left up to the discretion of the individual Santa himself.

[BILLW]

Way back when I read the book 1984 I worried about stuff like this. It's coming true all over the world. I still sometimes shock and awe folks when I speak plainly and use terms that actually describe what I am talking about. One advertisement for Christmas trees here had them listed as "family trees" HO HO HO

Bill :)

[RM]

"family tree".....good heavens. However, braver souls still exist. This excerpt from a Canadian Press article :

At the California state capitol in Sacramento, the tree-lighting usually takes place the first Tuesday in December. Last year Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who officiated at the ceremony with his wife Maria Shriver, took the bold step of calling it a Christmas tree, ending the use of the term "holiday tree."

[Rainbow Trout]

I Am All For Calling It What It Is!!!! Ho Ho Ho Included!

[timetraveler]

Like the rest of you, I'm all for calling a spade a spade if that's what it is. a kid is never going to learn how to tell the truth nor to be honest, as well as eventually becoming incapable of ever being able to keep his word to anyone as long as the politically correct keeps on forcing the rest of us to live as if it were 1984. See, I read the book as well when in high school, and even then it struck me that the events in 1984 were already being played out in real life. Another interesting book people should take a gander at is Brave New World. The authors of the books, as I was once told, had written them with the intention of warning people about the dangers of letting governments or any other special interest groups take too much control of even the smallest part of a persons life. In time, a person eventually wakes up & realizes that they've lost their freedom & a whole host of other things as well.

[podunklander]

SYDNEY (AFP) - Santas in Australia's largest city have been told not to use Father Christmas's traditional "ho ho ho" greeting because it may be offensive to women, it was reported Thursday.

Sydney's Santa Clauses have instead been instructed to say "ha ha ha" instead, the Daily Telegraph reported.

One disgruntled Santa told the newspaper a recruitment firm warned him not to use "ho ho ho" because it could frighten children and was too close to "ho", a US slang term for prostitute.

"Gimme a break," said Julie Gale, who runs the campaign against sexualising children called Kids Free 2B Kids.

"We are talking about little kids who do not understand that "ho, ho, ho" has any other connotation and nor should they," she told the Telegraph.

"Leave Santa alone."

A local spokesman for the US-based Westaff recruitment firm said it was "misleading" to say the company had banned Santa's traditional greeting and it was being left up to the discretion of the individual Santa himself.


Hmmmmmm...I'd be more offended if Santa greeted me with "ha,ha,ha" !!! Then I'd have to kick him in that bowl full of jelly, pull off his beard and then he'd say, "ho, ho, ho" just like he's supposed to anyway!!! :biggrin:

[Kathy Number Four]

Way back when I read the book 1984 I worried about stuff like this. It's coming true all over the world.
Bill :)

Bill, you are SO RIGHT! It scares me, because this is exactly how the "Thought Police" began in "1984"... by eliminating certain "offensive" words from our vernacular, and then eventually from the dictionaries altogether. So, I say "Merry Christmas" as often as possible at this time of year, and NEVER "Happy Holidays"... PC-ers be danged! SO THERE!!! :biggrin: