UniLang Language Community • Forum
"merry Christmas", "happy Halloween"
Moderator:JackFrost
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Mars80
- Posts:178
- Joined:2013-08-22, 3:19
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United States (United States)
Why is it that people usually use "merry" before "Christmas" while for all the other holidays "happy" is what is usually used?
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ling
- Posts:828
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Taiwan (臺灣)
Re: "merry Christmas", "happy Halloween"
People often say "Happy Christmas" in the UK, whereas in the US it's very rare. One major exception in the US is in the classic American Christmas poem A Visit from St. Nicholas (1823) by Clement Clarke Moore, which ends with "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night."
The phrase "Merry Christmas" is found in that English Christmas classic, Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1843).
But as to why "Merry Christmas" but "Happy" with other holidays, at this point it's just convention.
The phrase "Merry Christmas" is found in that English Christmas classic, Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1843).
But as to why "Merry Christmas" but "Happy" with other holidays, at this point it's just convention.
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linguoboy
- Posts:25540
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- Country:United States (United States)
Re: "merry Christmas", "happy Halloween"
Remind me again, which one do you use with "Yom Kippur"?
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons
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