Some shock jocks. journalists and commentators – and their followers – have been doing their best to take the Ho Ho Ho out of Christmas.
Our experience, behind the counter in our newsagencies, is they have failed.
A common comment from customers when they see the t-shirt (modelled beautifully by jane and Jo from our newsXpress Forest Hill location) is good on you or some idiot wanted to ban that, followed by a laugh.
We are congratulated, smiled at or, if we are lucky, Ho Ho Ho ed at. We often use t-shirts to connect with seasons and this Ho Ho Ho line has received the best reaction I can remember.
Yes, it is a cultural cringe of the most abject type to want to stop a traditional sentiment of our culture because of a more recent different usage of the word within the African-American culture. There is space for both cultures to maintain their linguistic styles.
On a vaguely related note, I am disappointed watching our newspapers increasingly moving towards American spelling.