When someone says "Happy Holidays"...

[Beartracks]

Jon Cooper tweet...

Link to tweet

Text below; my bolding:

"When someone says 'Happy Holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas', remember, they're not doing it because of political correctness. They do it out of respect. Because from the 20th of November through January 24th, there's at least 14 different religious holidays. So, when someone says Happy Holidays to you, thank them. Because they don't know what you believe in. It's called respect.

Not a War on Christmas."

[Retrograde]

1. And I say

"The same to you". Or "Thank you". Life's too short to get into arguments about what holiday it is. And I'm always in favor of more excuses for parties.

[brettdale]

2. well i may be different

But I take Stanely from the office point of view.

[Hekate]

3. Absolutely!

Happy holidays!

[Roland99]

4. Bing Crosby sang Happy Holiday 80 years ago

That’s a long ass war

[dchill]

9. And Bing would have defended Xmas to the end...

... with some serious discipline!

[whistler162]

19. He even did it up with Startdust to the end

[Beartracks]

31. Ahh... NOW it feels like Christmas is coming!!

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[Polybius]

25. Yeah, but his version was singular, so he was only referring to Christmas

What the OP is talking about is plural.

[Roland99]

28. The song was often titled Happy Holidays

And there’s a “happy holidays to you” in the chorus

[AlexSFCA]

5. Totally. And also Merry Christmas is not offensive

It is important to recognize that Christmas Day is a secular federal US holiday. Saying Merry Christmas is no different than saying Happy Thanksgiving, Happy New Year, etc. Now, Happy Easter can be offensive as it is not a US holiday and is not secular. I have never ever in my entire life met a jew who was offended at “Merry Christmas” greeting, only fox news would report something like that.

[Beartracks]

7. Exactly.

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[wnylib]

10. Yes, Jews would be offended if someone said

"Happy Easter" to them. On the other hand, I have had a Jewish friend say "Happy Easter" to me. Obviously, I did not say, "And to you, too."

"Happy Holidays" could also refer to New Year which is secular.

When I was a child some decades ago and long before the term "political correctness" existed, it was common to see "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" on holiday cards. Even as a child I could understand that there were other holidays in December besides Christmas without feeling offended by those cards. It could also be a shortcut for Christians who celebrate Christmas and New Year within a week of each other.

[AlexSFCA]

12. jews are very resilient and not some snowflakes to be offended easily

If someone says “Happy Easter” to a jew, a perfect reply is “Happy Passover” to you too. It is so ludicrous to be believe that jews are that sensitive to something that has little to no importance. It’s really something that conservatives just make up and present as facts. It’s like when someone assumes I have a wife just because I have kids, it’s easy enough for me to correct that I have a husband, it doesn’t offend me at all. Conservatives are the real snowflakes who get offended when someone says “Happy Holidays” to them.

[wnylib]

16. To wish a Jewish friend a Happy Passover as a response

to them saying Happy Easter does not usually work out since the Passover date changes each year and is not necessarily at the same time as Easter, which also changes dates every year. Not being Jewish, I don't know when Passiver is coming up or has already passed, or when it's one of uncommon times that Passover and Easter coincide.

So, I simply smiled and said, "Thank you."

People are individuals. While one person is not offended at all, another might be. I remember when I was in college that a few Jewish students complained about the assumption that everyone celebrated Christmas and being wished Merry Christmas by strangers. OTOH, my college advisor, who was an observant Jew, told me that he and his wife allowed their children to have a Christmas tree when younger since Christmas is such a big holiday celebrated all around them. People have different feelings about it.

Regarding children, I don't have any although I have been married twice. I had difficulty conceiving and the times when I did, I miscarried. But every year I receive Happy Mother's Day greetings from people I don't know. It does not offend me because I know that people mean well. But when I was younger, it was painful. Now that I'm older and past childbearing years, it is not so painful. I have always just said, "Thank you" without bothering to explain.

[Genki Hikari]

14. Being resigned to its usage isn't the same as not finding it offensive

I don't usually say anything about it, but I'm one of the people who does resent the greeting because it presumes that the person addressed celebrates and acknowledges that holiday. And I do neither. How rude to assume that I do. "Happy Holidays" at least is sorta inclusive of people like me.

At this point of my life, I've given up expecting anyone to consider how I feel about, well, anything, as someone not of that religion. Nobody from that religion has ever cared before, so why would they start now?

Government backing doesn't secularize that religious day in the least, btw, but it does stomp on that church/state separation line a whole bunch.

[Cha]

6. I said it today to my

Japanese Postal Clerk just to be safe.

I'm not religious but I sure don't mind saying Merry Christmas or having it wished to me.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. Ahh, yes.

Whatever someone says to me, I cheerfully and happily repeat back.

I honestly don't give a flying fuck about what you believe, or what you want to impose on others. I am happy to celebrate the joy of the season, of this time of year.

[a kennedy]

11. How about just wishing them all Merry Holidays?? 👍🏻

[bedazzled]

13. I ignore the holidays unless someone greets me

Then I give them the same. I worked in retail and people got ugly sometimes if you "greeted them wrong"

[Genki Hikari]

15. Working in retail definitely added to my loathing of the holiday.

nt

[bedazzled]

24. I wonder if you ever get over it

Three years since I quit and I have achieved ambivalence

[Hekate]

27. I worked retail all thru university,but all I hated was the display for It's a Small World After All

Oh gods, that stupid repetitive song with its almost electronic sound, everything rotating and moving and flashing. And it could be heard everywhere in the store.

Other than that and broken-down feet at the end, not a bad way to pay the shared rent, a steady 20 hours a week.

As for Happy Holidays, nobody ever minded either the words or the sentiment back in the 1960s.

[Karma13612]

17. Thank you!

So tired of being told that it is leftist political “wokeness” and made to feel guilty.

It isn’t a war on Christmas at all, despite what narrow-minded MAGATS who are threatened by anyone who doesn’t fit their idea of acceptable, say. Their mold includes nut jobs like that gun-loving Nazi in Savage MN that the FBI just arrested.

Happy Holidays indeed!

[Beartracks]

18. Arrests of Nazi gun-nuts definitely puts some Merry in my Christmas!

[Karma13612]

29. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍❤️ Nt

[whistler162]

20. Okay si my BAH-HUMBUG is not

appropriate?

[BeerBarrelPolka]

21. I

I live in a stone cold trump area in Northern Illinois. 5 republicans so far have told me, "Happy Holidays". I responded to each of them, "Merry Christmas." Not a single repub I know has said Merry Christmas. So their war on Christmas mantra is another pile of bullshit.

[GoCubsGo]

22. Exactly. The ones who don't understand that tend not to have respect for others, in general.

It's usually the same folks who don't have enough respect for others to mask up, and keep their diseases to themselves in a pandemic. I don't celebrate any of those holidays, but if someone greets me, I respond in kind. It's no skin off my neck. But, unlike the "War on Xmas" crowd, I'm not going to try to force my own beliefs on everyone else. Which is what this is really about. It's just more white nationalist Christo-fascist bullying. I refuse to participate.

[MissMillie]

23. Someone wishes "happiness"

That's a nice thing. Say "thank you" and leave it at that.

When someone is wishing you happiness, you're not a victim.

[Beartracks]

26. "When someone is wishing you happiness, you're not a victim."

Truer words were never spoken!

Of course, you might WISH them happiness, but too many Republicans just HEAR what they want.

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[ProfessorGAC]

30. Happy Holidays Works Anyway

Even ignoring the 14 days piece, which is fair, New Year's Eve & New Year's Day are 6 & 7 days after Christmas.
Those are holidays celebrated by a few billion people.
"Happy Holidays" covers all 3 nicely.
The fact that it covers other religious holidays is an added benefit.