Jean in Newcastle Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 I've noticed that Americans say Merry Christmas and the British say Happy Christmas. Why is that, I wonder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatHomeschoolDad Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 This post says it has to do either with Queen Elizabeth II, or booze. I vote booze. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 "Twas the Night Before Christmas" has "Happy Christmas" in it. Was that written in the US or Britain? I wonder about carols, too--whether some are more popular in the US that use "merry" and if that's the reason. (Of course, it could be the other way around, that we use "merry" and so our carol writers did the same!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatHomeschoolDad Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 "Twas the Night Before Christmas" has "Happy Christmas" in it. Was that written in the US or Britain? I wonder about carols, too--whether some are more popular in the US that use "merry" and if that's the reason. (Of course, it could be the other way around, that we use "merry" and so our carol writers did the same!) Clement Clarke Moore wrote it in 1822. From poetryfroundation.org: Clement Clarke Moore was born in New York City, the son of the Reverend Benjamin Moore and Charity Clarke Moore. An only child, Clement was capably tutored at home by his father until he entered Columbia College; according to his biographer. Samuel White Patterson, he graduated in 1798 "at the head of his class, as his father had, thirty years earlier." In 1801 he earned his M.A. degree from Columbia: he was awarded an LL.D. in 1829. A very religious man, he gave a large portion of the land that he had inherited, part of his Chelsea estate and now called Chelsea Square, to the General Theological Seminary, where he was a professor of oriental and Greek literature from 1823 until he retired in 1850. At his retirement he purchased a house in Newport, Rhode Island, where he died on 10 July 1863. So, A.) Homeschooled! and B.) Kinda lends cred to the temperance idea for merry vs happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted December 25, 2013 Author Share Posted December 25, 2013 What an intoxicating answer, ThatHomeschoolDad! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted December 25, 2013 Author Share Posted December 25, 2013 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted December 25, 2013 Share Posted December 25, 2013 This post says it has to do either with Queen Elizabeth II, or booze. I vote booze. Just read this. How interesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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