Talk:Happy Holiday(s)

message: If only on this talk page, can someone explain to me why Christians find "Happy Holidays" offensive?  I have no problem wishing my Christian friends a merry or joyous or spiritually meaningful Christmas; indeed, it is a pleasure for me to do so.  But surely my Christian friends know that it would be inappropriate and offensive for them to extend the same wish to me.  I sincerely want to figure out this "offended" thing.  Should Jews be offended whenever someone fails to say "Shabbat Shalom" to them on Shabbat? Slrubenstein   |  Talk 19:07, 4 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Would you be offended if someone wished you "Happy Ritual Observance Day" on Shabbat? - Swag 03:59, 5 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Nope.  I would wonder why they are using such clunky phrasing, though.  If they do not want to say "Gut Shabbas" or "Shabbat Shalom" they can just say "Happy Holiday."  From one very technical point of view Shabbat is not a holiday, but I wouldn't mind if a non-Jew said this; I would appreciate the good spirit. Slrubenstein   |  Talk 18:01, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

text: Agreed that it would be interesting to have this idea expanded upon by the editor. Part of the problem may be the lack of common usage of any of these greetings (the article on Merry Christmas suggests that greeting is commonly replied to with the holiday greeting of the responder's choice, inducing the original greeter to reply in kind--something I as an American have never attempted, nor would I expect anything but bemused silence if I did). We are apparently in the process of jettisoning the neutral "Happy Holidays," but we can not rid ourselves of the awareness that as a diverse country, America contains many people who do not celebrate Christmas. Turning a pleasant exchange of greetings into a religious debate does not seem an attractive alternative. Lindmere 20:30, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

message: It would be interesting to know whether there have ever been Christian equivalents to "Hag Sameach" or "Eid Mubarak"--that is, an all-purpose greeting that can be used for any holy day recognized by the faith. Lindmere 03:51, 5 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Other "Generic" Holiday Greetings? 

message: I am suggesting a name change of this article to Generic winter holiday greetings, and it will directly refer to both "Season's Greetings" and "Happy Holidays" rather than simply "Happy Holidays". If anyone disagrees post here, if not, I'll go ahead with the change. PatrickA 23:51, 18 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm not disagreeing with the choice, but I believe viewing these greetings as "generic" is fairly recent. Christmas and New Year's are close together, so a wish of "Happy Holidays" can intend both, but is simply shorter than saying "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year." Likewise, though I haven't done any research on it, "Season's Greetings" is reminiscent of the Victorian Christmas wish "Compliments of the season." "Generic" seems to imply a bland indifference to the holiday being referenced that I do not think was part of the original usage. Would simply "Winter holiday greetings" be better? Lindmere 23:24, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Name Change