"Merry Christmas"

[Wilson Gray]

On Dec 25, 2004, at 3:08 PM, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Merry Christmas"
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> On Dec 25, 2004, at 11:47 AM, Barbara Need wrote:
>
>> ... I was recently rereading an Agatha Christie in which someone
>> wishes
>> another person "Merry Christmas", so the question may be, when the
>> British start saying "Happy Christmas"?
>
> americans said it too: recall the final line of the famous poem of
> 12/23/1823:
>
> Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
>
> arnold
>

Sigh! It's to my own great annoyance that I'm forced to point out that
Americans *still* say "Happy Christmas." I always reply, "You mean,
'*Merry* Christmas.'" One can only try.

-Wilson