coercion

[Carol]

montims wrote:
<snip>
> I miss Boxing Day and Christmas Eve being a holiday, as it is in
Europe, <snip> Most of my colleagues had saved up their days and took
off over a week, as did a lot of my friends outside of work.  So I
wish them happy holidays with the very best of intentions - I hope
that after working hard each year they will have the opportunity to
relax, enjoy being with friends and family, and forget about work for
a little while at least.  Inmy mind, nothing political or religious
(or offensive) about it.

Carol:
If "Happy Holidays" is shorthand for "Merry Christmas and Happy New
Year," fine. What I find distasteful is "holiday" as a euphemism for
"Christmas." I was looking at a display in Safeway last night of items
that had been reduced for quick sale and found "holiday Barbie" in a
feminine version of a Santa suit, "holiday cookie cutters" (Santa and
Christmas trees), and "holiday ornaments" obviously designed for a
Christmas tree. I wanted those ornaments, darn it, because they were
beautiful (a pear, an apple, and I'm not sure what other piece of
fruit in the traditional Christmas colors of red, green, and gold) but
I couldn't bring myself to buy a box of ornaments that had been
falsely labeled by the manufacturers. (No one's going to buy them for
a Hanukkah tree or a Kwanzaa tree or a Ramadan tree, surely?) Finally,
the friend who was with me (who agrees with my sentiments but thinks
I'd do better to show more of a sense of humor and wish everybody
"Merry Christmas and Happy Ramahanukwanstice") suggested after we left
the store that I buy the ornaments and place them in a different box
("No! I keep ornaments in the box they belong in," I Monkishly
replied) or put a Christmas sticker over the "holiday ornaments"
label. I said I'd think about it because, darn it, those ornaments
will look really pretty on my rapidly drying Christmas tree and better
still on next year's, when I'll bite the bullet and pay eleven dollars
a foot (!!!!) for a freshly cut tree instead of buying a more
affordable but less fresh tree at Home Depot. BTW, I asked the cashier
and the bagger whether the store required them to say "Happy holidays"
and how they felt about it. They both said that the store had no
policy and they both wished their customers "Merry Christmas" and had
received no complaints. As my friend and I were leaving, the young
grocery bagger, who might have been eighteen, smiled and wished me
"Happy New Year" (specific holiday name; hooray!) and I wished them
both a Happy tenth day of Christmas. They laughed and said "Happy
Tenth Day of Christmas" back to me.

Carol, still debating whether to buy those ornaments and what to say
when I violate my principles by buying them