My Merry Christmas

By Jeff Westover

In recent years many retailers have come under fire for using the word “holiday” in substitution for the word “Christmas” in their advertising. But some have problems with the term “Xmas” as well. Just ask gift shop owner Trent Wilson. He meant no harm when he used the term “Xmas” in a 2007 ad he placed in a local newspaper. But one simple letter to the editor unleashed a torrent of bad publicity that nearly wiped out his business.

“We simply ran out of room in t... [Read More]

By Jeff Westover

It falls from our lips without much thought: “Merry Christmas!”. But what is it we are really saying?

In an informal survey conducted recently more than 84 percent of Americans asked thought that the word “merry” meant “jolly”.

Taken in context, many around the world do indeed celebrate a “jolly” Christmas these days. But that contemporary interpretation is not exactly the traditional definition of the word “merry”.

In old England, where the phrase “Mer... [Read More]