Merry Christmas, apples

[davewitley]

Tabouli:

> I note that the substitution of "happy holidays" for "Merry 
Christmas" has progressed well in the US!  As I once mentioned, these 
days I circumvent the whole Ramadan (on now!)/Christmas/Hannukah 
issue by sending out religion-neutral Chinese New Year cards.  
Has "happy holidays" spread to Canada and the UK?  

> a Canadian Jewish friend I once had would pointedly reply to "Merry 
Christmas" with "Happy Hannukah").  Any thoughts?

I think, apart from municipalities which have to consider their 
entire religious constituency, the average atheist/agnostic Briton 
will say Happy Christmas.  It used to be 'Merry Christmas and a Happy 
New Year', but Happy has gradually supplanted Merry, possibly because 
of connotations of drunkenness.  This creates problems for the longer 
phrase, of course, so cards often say things like 'prosperous' for 
the new year. (Our card industry assumes that people are illiterate, 
so most cards you can buy have a printed greeting - I assume it's the 
same elsewhere.)

I would find it odd specifically wishing a Jewish friend Happy 
Hannukah, because it's just one of several festivals - it would, in 
effect, be implicitly endorsing the Christmasisation of Hannukah.  Of 
course, if we went round wishing 'Happy ***' for every Christian and 
non-religious festival, that would be different.  Christmas is really 
the only time of year, I think, when Brits would grudgingly admit 
that they might be concerned about the happiness of other people 
(except to enviously put a stop to it).
> 
> You know, I could never buy this apple as the Forbidden Fruit 
concept.  Sorry serpent, but an apple would not tempt me in the 
slightest.  Of all the boring fruit!  Apples, to me, are the sort of 
uninspired fruits you buy in the depths of winter when nothing else 
is available, and they have to be absolutely pristinely fresh and 
crunchy to be of any interest.  Now, if it were a mango, or a 
passionfruit, or a peach or something, then we might be in business...

Hm.  How many types of apple have you had the chance to try?  What 
about really decent Cox's? Russets?  At our old house we had an apple 
tree that produced apples that tasted unlike anything you can buy in 
the shops (ie nice!) - but went rotten within a few days of picking.  
I love fresh ripe peaches, but have only ever eaten them on holiday 
in the Balkans.  I don't believe I have ever eaten mango as it is 
supposed to be.  Fruit is like cheese - there's some wonderful stuff 
to be had, but finding it is the problem, and I don't believe apples 
are any exception.

David