Americans. Why do you call Christmas "The Holidays"? Why don't you call it Christams?

Question

So you can't say "Merry Christmas" for fear of upsetting people! That is messed up. Who could possibly take exception to friendly wishes no matter what their faith is? .

Answer 1

I call December 25 Christmas.  The whole season is the holidays.  

Answer 2

because we are grouping it with thanks giving and christmans

Happy Christmas in July http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdymxP5Kq...

Answer 3

I'm English and I say 'The Holidays' and it's not because of religious reasons of saying Merry Christmas to the wrong person, I'm just stating what it is..a holiday. A lot of Holidays do happen during the period anyway.You have Halloween; Fireworks Night; Thanks giving; Christmas and Boxing Day and then New Years. It's just an overall term for the holidays - and it's not necessarily divided into Americans and the English.  

Answer 4

You obviously don't know the answer to your own question...it starts with Thanksgiving, Christmas, then New Year's Day...not to mention all of the other holidays celebrated by different cultures during that time of year.  

Answer 5

Because it's a holiday season, and not everyone celebrates Christmas. It's from Thanksgiving to New Years. We have Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanuka, Kwanza, Passover (I think, sorry if that's incorrect), and New Years. Saying the Holidays is just a lot easier than saying all that.  

Answer 6

Because Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, and New Years Day come pretty much back to back, so people refer to all of them as "The Holidays" so they don't have to say each one all the time.

Answer 7

I always say Merry Christmas not Happy Holidays

Answer 8

souly due to the fact that  though christmas is the most widely celibrated holiday... telivision, radio and all otther forms of entertainment are scared of a discriminatio lawsuit........ because everybodys full of **** to put it bluntly

Answer 9

Because when we say that we aren't referring to just Christmas. We're referring to Christmas, New Years, Hunakka, Kwanzza, and sometimes Thanksgiving. It's like saying  "why do you call August summer? Why don't you call it August?" If we were talking about that one thing we would, but we're talking about more than that.

Answer 10

B/c everyone does not celebrate christmas and feel "hurt" when you say it..but y thing is Christmas is a christian holiday and America was built on Christianity so what do you expect...huh

Answer 11

cause theres other holidays besides christmas around that time.

not everyone celebrates christmas.  there hanuka, kwanza. also thanksgiving and newyears are all with in a few months of each other.

if you say merry christmas to someone that dosent celebrate it they may get offended. so we say happy holidays to cover everyone. I acually worked at a place that made a point to tell everyone to say "happy holidays" to customers.

why the heck did i get thumbs down... i didnt say anything wrong...

Answer 12

I think "the holidays" refers to the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Many people plan get togethers in the month between the two holidays.  So a lot of time people call it "the holidays".

Answer 13

We don't specifically refer to Christmas as the holidays, but the time from Thanksgiving to New Years. It is also said to be policaly correct, beacuse many other cultures have holidays around Christmas, and not everyone takes part in Christmas.

Answer 14

Because we get "vacation" time at that point..

Most get off work on Thanks giving (November)...

Then Christmas through New Years Ever.

With the three together it is the holidays

Answer 15

I call it Christmas, like Merry Christmas, Happy Christmas, Christmas Blessings.

Answer 16

The season also inculdes Winter Solstice, Jewish Hanukkah and the New Year. Beyond that there are those who attack anything to do with the Christian faith. It's more secular to say "The Holidays.

Answer 17

for the fact that Christmas isn't the only holiday around that time.  Its respectful of all religions and cultures. I know when i worked at Target we were not allowed to say merry christmas we had to say happy holidays because you never know what holiday some one celebrates.

Answer 18

I say "Happy Thanksgiving" around Thanksgiving, "Merry Christmas" around Christmas, and "Happy New Year" around New Year's Day.  I refer to the whole period as "The Holidays."  I would not be offended if someone wished me a Happy Kwanzaa, Merry Hanukkah etc.  By our (Americans) attempt to not offend anyone, I've become offended.  Since when did it become wrong to offer good wishes to anyone?  We all need to quit taking ourselves so seriously and accept others' well-wishes as they're intended!

Answer 19

I an attempt to be politically correct, many Americans refer to Christmas time as "The Holidays". This is done to avoid alienating those Americans that celebrate Kwanzza, Chanukah, and any other celebrations that coincide with Christmas. What makes it even more confusing, if you're British, is that the term "Holiday" is primarily used to describe a vacation or time away from work. Most Americans reserve the term "Holiday" for calendar events such as Christmas, Easter, and Valentines Day.  

Answer 20

When talking only of December 25 it's Christmas, but if you are referring to all of the time from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day it's the holidays.  We spend a lot of time with family and friends during this time period celebrating, not just on Christmas.  It's a matter of encompassing a larger time period, not avoiding offending people, at least in my book.

Answer 21

cuz we get time of...we go on holiday...and cuz theres christmas hanukkah kwanza and ne years eve all about the same time

Answer 22

People started calling it Happy Holidays because the media in its attempt to make us politically correct started using the  term.Wouldn't it be just awful if somebody heard me say Christmas? I'm sure they would be devestated. For many many years our country was shut done for Christmas. Schools and businesses closed. Even the government. I think if they want to do away with Christmas then they should do away with the days off. It is so bad where I work that we arent allowed to have a Christmas tree because it may offend a non christian.That is how bad this silly PC has gotten in this country.

Answer 23

I agree with everyone else. "The holidays" is ever holiday in between.

Unless we are being specific, then we will say what we mean, i.e Christmas, New Years, Thanksgiving, etc, but other than that we say "the holidays" and we literally mean "the holidays".