Christmas is the happiest day in the history and I'd like to wish all our customers a happy day... nothing wrong!

I strongly believe that we should keep the Christmas message. Surely becoming overly PC only creates divisiveness, where people of different religions become resentful of each other. What we should be aiming for is celebrating all religions at the appropriate time, whether Christmas, Ede or Hannukah. That will hopefully go some way to promoting more tolerance and understanding, rather than simply pretending that a religion doesn't exist. That's what's really offensive after all.

Well I always use Happy/Merry Xmas Ed.

I know of a couple of cases where people were offended - they thought it showed a lack of respect/understanding of the client's belief/views. Tend to agree to be honest.

If you know a client is of x religion, how cool would it be to also look at sending them different messages at different times of the year as appropriate.

Inclusive, not exclusive eh?

Just send a New Year's card. :o)

aaahh, someone above just used the word Xmas! If my mother was reading this she'd be saying that its not X's mass but Christ's mass - see? Xmas is just lazy!
However, that being slightly off thread, stick with Merry/Happy Christmas - they are just words after all - although Rudyard Kipling did say that "Words are of course the most powerful drug used by mankind"
my thought for the day....

The word 'Xmas' has been used since the 4th century because 'x' is the Greek symbol for Christ. It's not lazy, just efficient!

Happy Christmas gets my vote, but for most of my clients, they go with Season's Greetings.

By the way, Happy Diwali everyone!!

We have a greetings cards option with our print & mail service Docmail.

Lo and behold, our first set of cards are Christmas cards (launched last year). We do list them as "Xmas" cards though!

Avoiding mentions of Christmas reminds me of Larry David in "Curb Your Enthusiasm" pretending to give up playing golf, in a misguided attempt to spare the feelings of his wheelchair-bound friend.

Anyway, I'm off to buy some "Holiday Crackers" a "Secular Seasonal Pudding" and some "Uplifting, Religiously Neutral Wintertime Music".

Will

There's nothing wrong with Happy/Merry Christmas in my opinion - I don't think people of other religions are offended in the slightest. It's not like we are forcing Christianity on them, just wishing them well at this time of year. It's a British tradition and I'd be very sad to see it stop.

It would be nice if we had a day that brought the world together in non-secular good intention, in name and spirit. I like "Happy Winter Solstice" but that would be discriminatory against the southern hemisphere.

Although it's not worth raising a stink by receiving a "Happy Christmas" card, it's days are numbered and the US is ahead on this one. Even though they have God-fearing Presidents and masses in the interior, the educated folk in the US (e.g. Execs who receive communications from major companies vying for their business) are the ones who appreciate that secular greetings are dangerous when you don't know your audience, and guess what. Is the time coming when an atheist/other Exec receiving a Happy Christmas card will think the sender is naive?

Probably so.... :)

Well Ed, as your busines partner who runs the US operations of Concep (but NOT the one who persuaded you NOT to publish this last year) I urge you all to not get caught up in the silliness of political (or in this case 'religious') correctness that has gripped everyone here in the US.

Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah/Happy New Year - whatever! As long as the tidings are positive it should not matter.

Well writen Edward!

I have to say I'm with you on the "Happy Christmas" greeting. I really don't know what's wrong with it and all this "Happy Holidays" stuff is PC gone bonkers.

The Mother referred to above stands corrected by the note about x being the Greek shortening for Christ. However, it is for writing not speaking. Personally it still jars. I wish you all the joys of Christmas.

David's Mother.

We are having to call our "Christmas party" the Year End party so as not to offend - PC gone absolutely stark raving bonkers mad.....

Thank you for all your comments and for getting involved in the debate. If you drop me an email I will make sure you get one of our UK Christmas cards.

Regards,

Ed

I think the point is that whilst most western greetings will be understood in other countries, it is more about showing that you understand the way this time of year is viewed by the country or cultural group and that you getting the timings right.

For example, in Russia Christmas comes after New Year and in Turkey they do not traditionally celebrate Christmas and so for them, a more generic festive greeting is appropriate.

It is always advisable to seek professional advice when creating any communication in another language, just to ensure that it is culturally correct as well as literally.
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