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.
this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2023
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Is it wrong for me to say that the pessimism with a side of alcohol is the most British you could possibly describe being 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.
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Who is "everyone else" in this story?
The only place I know that days Happy Christmas is the UK
In Australia, it's merry
I'm from the UK, and I've always said merry.
I doubt it's any more prevalent in a specific country and more likely specific to individual families and friends.
For example, i always thought it was an american thing to say happy christmas.
Either way, happy and merry Christmas to you :)
Happy Merry to you too!
In the US, it's incredibly rare if not impossible to find someone who says "Happy Christmas." It's either "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays."
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".
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.
Around here we wish you a homosexual Christmas
AKA: make the yule time gay.
"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.
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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.
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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.
UK here... Merry Christmas, yes. Happy Christmas, yes. Happy Holidays, no, no, no and just for effect no.
What if you don't intend to see someone before New Year's and want to wish them a happy New Year as well, while being lazy?
I really don't get this hatred for "Happy Holidays", because even if you want to discredit the non Christian holidays in December/January, there are still two...
I think some people (usually right wing Americans who watched too much Fox News back in the 2000s) are opposed to "happy holidays" because they don't want to acknowledge other religions.
And then there are snobby Europeans who hate and avoid the phrase because it sounds "too American".
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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.
The vast majority of Americans don't even know that 'merriment' is a word. They just know you're supposed to say 'Merry Christmas.' That's it.
AND IF YOU DONT SAY IT YOUR WOKE RAAAA
The great irony there being "happy holidays" is from the Old English (language, not malt liquor) for "happy holy days."
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