while it seems everyone else says ‘happy christmas’
which imo is a way better phrase, it’s very … pragmatic. happiness is more attainable than merriment. how often is anyone merry?
Merry Christmas is a popular expression in the UK too.
I think that merriment is actually much easier to attain than happiness. One could be miserable in life, but have a few drinks and be merry.
Personally, merry Christmas just sounds better than happy Christmas. Something about the repeated “m” sound, I think.
That’s called euphonics, and I agree
It was bad when Hitler did it and I’m not going to suddenly start agreeing with it.
It’s Christmas! Let the guy do a little euphonics if it makes him happy.
Euphonics?
Replace “euphonics” with “eugenics” and the joke will make sense
The song goes “We wish you a merry Christmas”, so that’ll always be there for as long as the song is popular.
Plus (also because of the song, I assume), you say “merry Christmas and a happy new year”, not “happy Christmas and a happy new year”. Too much happy there.
In my country we say “Have a good Yule”.
God jul!
God jul och glad fortsättning!
Yule see, yule all see!
Well your country is wrong.
Nä, julen är äldre än kristmässan.
Crazy how easy it was to understand that sentence perfectly without speaking any Nordic languages
Det är bra att man kan göra sig förstådd såhär i juletider.
Now this sentence I don’t understand at all
Det var verkligen jättetråkigt :(
No, Jul are older than Christmas?
*is
I think
Yes.
no u
Insofar as there’s a distinction between the two, I feel like you’ve got it switched. Merriment would be a night out with drinks and friends, whereas deep happiness would be more like contentedness with your life choices. But they’re about the same. Plus “A Christmas Carol” uses Merry, and it’s like the ultimate Christmas story.
Tradition, mostly.
Dickens used Merry Christmas in his Christmas Carol and the US used the greeting since the 19th century.
In the UK however, happy christmas is more common as the royals used that phrase.
There’s apparently no big thing behind it. Just the way language evolved with different influences in different regions.
am from uk. merry christmas is very much the common phrase here by a long shot
Agreed - it’s merry christmas and happy new year.
“Merry Christmas” is pretty much the only context I see my fellow Americans use the word “Merry” other than deliberately trying to sound upper class British.
We like to brag about our ability to still pronounce the R sound.
Similar to why Brits say Happy Christmas, honestly.
Lol no. You yanks can’t pronounce the R. The only real R is a rolling R. If your tongue is not tapping and vibrating against your palate you are not pronouncing an R.
Stupid comment. You’re referring to the Spanish R, or in a language with a similar R sound.
Imagine if a French or German person told you that their R is the only way to pronounce the R.
This kind of misguided gatekeeping is exhausting.
Dude it was a joke. The first comment was a joke, and the reply was a follow-up “no u” joke. I’m sorry you can’t read into subtext without /s
Also, Spanish R? Have you not heard of Scots? It’s called apical-alveolar trill, and I wish i could pronounce it better lol
Oh. Teehee. All good then. Happy holidays fellow lemming.
fingerguns.gif
If Americans aren’t pronouncing an R, then what letter are they pronouncing?
[ɹ]
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There’s a slight chance I could be convinced to accept the french R into the company of real R sounds, but I agree the rolling one is where it’s at. The American one is something special.
Canada says Merry Christmas even though we usually do British spelling and measurements.
Also, the north pole is either in Canada or Russia (not going to look it up) so we are probably correct.
The area around the north pole is just ice without any land underneath. It’s also not part of any nation.
The only people I’ve personally known who exclusively say “Happy Christmas” are Irish. Are you Irish, OP?
Bah humbug
I think Merry Christmas is a harken to antiquated dialect, much like other religious phrases. Thou shalt not kill or Thy will be done or extra Ecclesiam nulla salus
Happy Chrimbo
Merry also means drunk - at least in common British English.
Therefore it is quite an easy state to attain either from the offy, or a few pubs tat are also open for a few hours in the afternoon.Common in the UK too. I think it’s because we often add “… and a happy New Year”. Two happies doesn’t scan and merry New Year doesn’t work as well.