Are you afraid to say Merry Christmas?

In fact, here's the ORIGINAL version, not as you've presented it:

Sagarin wrote:

rekrunner wrote:

This genuinely surprised me. I don't know why but I thought it was more popular than that (like 5-10%). I found this link which says (among adults) 1.7% Jewish, 0.7% Buddhist, 0.6% Muslim, 0.4% Hindu, 1.6% Atheist, and 2.4% Agnostic:

http://religions.pewforum.org/reports

.

And only a fraction of those would take offense to someone wishing them a Merry Christmas. The post about Holiday being derived from Holy is an interesting one. I'm surprised there hasn't been an Occupy or Obstruct Christmas movement, but for the fact that it would be 1% against the other 99%.

So what you are saying is that you are uneducated, and I shouldn't be surprised that there are a lot of uneducated people like you on Letsrun? Yet this is a website where (given the level of interest in college running) it is reasonable to assume that most of the posters attended university?

You don't have to be a scholar of the Classics to know that ilex means holly - for example it is the Delaware state tree.

The fact that you're NOT surprised indicates your lack of intelligence to a reasonable degree, and yet you parade your ignorance and lack of imagination around like you are proud of them?

I acknowledge that a lack of intelligence isn't something you can remedy, but you could educate yourself about basic things. Yet you seem pleased for everyone to know that you are stupid, as if it is a badge of honor. Why is that?

I merely said the post about Holiday being derived from the word Holy was an interesting one. I suppose I should've included, "if true," but I took him at his word

So what you are saying is that I am correct, and you DID take him seriously.

Thank you for proving my point.

I'm an atheist who celebrates Christmas and have no problem either saying it or having it said, but I usually say "happy holidays" just because it's shorter than saying "merry christmas and a happy new year," not for any religious reason. What I do have a problem with is people getting pissed off and Fox News launching boycott campaigns against companies just for putting up "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." First off, who the eff cares, and secondly, why should everyone have to say "Merry Christmas" no matter what just because you say it? I really don't care if someone says "merry christmas," "happy holidays," "happy Hanukkah," "happy solstice," etc etc etc. Anyone who gets pissed off over something like that must live a very sad life.

Total Knob,

Holy Moly. Or should I say Holly Molly. Yes must be really dumb if you think the rest of us are smart. Get a clue.

Guppy wrote:

I'm an atheist who celebrates Christmas and have no problem either saying it or having it said, but I usually say "happy holidays" just because it's shorter than saying "merry christmas and a happy new year."

Tip: leave out the "and a happy new year" bit. Then it's shorter - 4 syllables versus 5.

rekrunner wrote:

Total Knob,

Holy Moly. Or should I say Holly Molly. Yes must be really dumb if you think the rest of us are smart. Get a clue.

I don't have any illusions about your intelligence - I've had you pegged as a retard for a long time now.

Total Knob wrote:

I merely said the post about Holiday being derived from the word Holy was an interesting one. I suppose I should've included, "if true," but I took him at his word

So what you are saying is that I am correct, and you DID take him seriously.

Thank you for proving my point.

Thanks for not admitting to pulling my quote and presenting it out of context as though I had responded to someone else. That in and of itself is not too different from outright lying. Furthermore, saying something is "interesting" actually suggests it's probably worthy of further consideration rather than "taking it seriously." Yeah, I must have been super serious, I mean, intensely so.

Once again, you failed to respond to my post in its entirety, just cherry-picked the part that you think "proves" your point. My original POINT and the one you should've had drilled in to your brain by now is that we are a predominantly Christian society, and the mere fraction that aren't generally don't take offense to the words Merry Christmas, which are pretty much devoid of meaning anymore anyway other than as a well-intentioned gesture as the holiday has become so secularized.

And a very Merry Christams to you too, in this case, the other 1%.

Also, you'll notice from the original retort that I never made any reference to the word holly as per the original poster's contention. And, via multiple sources, the word Holiday does, in fact, come from Holy Days, regardless of how it's evolved or how it's applied in any religion. Holly was not the word I was focused on, even as you were yourself and attempted to associate me with it.

Sagarin wrote:

And only a fraction of those would take offense to someone wishing them a Merry Christmas. The post about Holiday being derived from Holy is an interesting one. I'm surprised there hasn't been an Occupy or Obstruct Christmas movement, but for the fact that it would be 1% against the other 99%.

Sagarin wrote:

Thanks for not admitting to pulling my quote and presenting it out of context as though I had responded to someone else.

It is not taken out of context - whether or not you are responding to another poster, you were treating Poor Letsrun's post as genuine. Which is all I claimed for your post.

Get help.

counter wrote:

Guppy wrote:

I'm an atheist who celebrates Christmas and have no problem either saying it or having it said, but I usually say "happy holidays" just because it's shorter than saying "merry christmas and a happy new year."

Tip: leave out the "and a happy new year" bit. Then it's shorter - 4 syllables versus 5.

That would be less inclusive. "Happy holidays" covers everything.

Total Knob wrote:

Sagarin wrote:

Thanks for not admitting to pulling my quote and presenting it out of context as though I had responded to someone else.

It is not taken out of context - whether or not you are responding to another poster, you were treating Poor Letsrun's post as genuine. Which is all I claimed for your post.

Get help.

You absolutely presented it out of context, presented it as though I had responded to a different post, which is LYING (I hardly expect an apology), and conveniently ignored that I said the association with Holiday and Holy was interesting, not its ties with the word Holly, which you thoroughly dissected. So I wasn't treating the ENTIRETY of the post that I wasn't even responding to as genuine. If that's "all you claimed for my post," then you wouldn't have bothered to post my entire response, only the part where the ties between Holidays and Holy were interesting. You're a slimy one.

You absolutely presented it out of context, presented it as though I had responded to a different post, which is LYING

No, I didn't - end of discussion.

You're a slimy one.

And you are mentally ill but, since I use the name "Total Knob", at least one of us is honest about themselves up-front.

And yet you "can't believe that you got two people to take you seriously"? Did you expect more than two?

Total Knob wrote:

I don't have any illusions about your intelligence - I've had you pegged as a retard for a long time now.

What really irritates me is that the conservative movement has effectively weaponized the phrase for use in their made-up culture wars: as usual, they've beaten a plowshare into a sword. I would hate to be wished a Merry Christmas by Bill O'Reilly or Michelle Malkin, for whom the sentiment is actually a smug and aggressive assertion of identity and entitlement, not a genuine expression of charitable feeling. I don't see these supposedly angry conservatives urging their viewers or constituents to serve anonymously to the hungry, donate anonymously to the needy, minister anonymously to the sick, and welcome anonymously the outcast, yet every winter they get all indignant when some school principal has the fvcking temerity to suggest that students should have the cosmopolitanism, reflexivity, and basic consideration to not wish every dmn person they see a "Merry Christmas."

So please, conservatives: just stop it.