3 thoughts on “Elizabeth Hurley knows the true meaning of Christmas”
Clement Moore tried to popularize “Happy Christmas” in the final line of “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” Obviously, it didn’t take.
More trivia from the Dickens story: Back in those days (the 1840’s), it was strictly forbidden to say “God” on the legitimate London theatrical stage; so when they first dramatized “A Christmas Carol,” they had to change the story’s most famous line to “Heaven bless us, every one.”
“for Christmas”? Not “of Christmas”? And why do they say “Happy Christmas” in England and they say “Merry Christmas” in the US?
The “FOR” was an editing error on my part. I changed the headline from something like “Here’s what Elizabeth Hurley gave us for Christmas,” and I didn’t read the revision thoroughly enough.
I don’t think it’s fair to say that “Happy Christmas” is more common than “Merry Christmas” in the UK. The evidence does not support that. It would be fair to say that “Happy Christmas” is more common in England than it is in the USA, where is is virtually unused.
Ol’ Chuck Dickens was English of course, and basically popularized Christmas as we celebrate it today, and that esteemed author has a newly enlightened Scrooge say “Merry Christmas” many times – to Bob Crachit, to his nephew, and to the turkey-boy in the street, thus popularizing the term.
Google N-Gram shows that “Merry Christmas” started to take off in the late 1840s, right after the publication of A Christmas Carol, and is now used more frequently than “Happy Christmas” by a ratio of about 13-1.
Clement Moore tried to popularize “Happy Christmas” in the final line of “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” Obviously, it didn’t take.
More trivia from the Dickens story: Back in those days (the 1840’s), it was strictly forbidden to say “God” on the legitimate London theatrical stage; so when they first dramatized “A Christmas Carol,” they had to change the story’s most famous line to “Heaven bless us, every one.”
“for Christmas”? Not “of Christmas”? And why do they say “Happy Christmas” in England and they say “Merry Christmas” in the US?
The “FOR” was an editing error on my part. I changed the headline from something like “Here’s what Elizabeth Hurley gave us for Christmas,” and I didn’t read the revision thoroughly enough.
I don’t think it’s fair to say that “Happy Christmas” is more common than “Merry Christmas” in the UK. The evidence does not support that. It would be fair to say that “Happy Christmas” is more common in England than it is in the USA, where is is virtually unused.
Ol’ Chuck Dickens was English of course, and basically popularized Christmas as we celebrate it today, and that esteemed author has a newly enlightened Scrooge say “Merry Christmas” many times – to Bob Crachit, to his nephew, and to the turkey-boy in the street, thus popularizing the term.
Google N-Gram shows that “Merry Christmas” started to take off in the late 1840s, right after the publication of A Christmas Carol, and is now used more frequently than “Happy Christmas” by a ratio of about 13-1.
“Happy Christmas” fares a little better in British sources, and is increasing there, but has never reached parity with “Merry Christmas” and is still the minority choice by a decided margin, but the ratio there is about two or three to one, compared to some 20-to-1 in the USA.