The "Gifts of Gab," MERRY CHRISTMAS

From the "Gifts of Gab," By WILLIAM SAFIRE

An attempt to call the Capitol Christmas Tree the "holiday" tree was cut off at the trunk by the House of Representatives, which insisted on sticking to the traditional nomenclature. Contrariwise, the Bushes adopted the "holiday" word for their cards, also chosen in 1993 by the Clintons. The impetus behind substituting holiday for Christmas was that Christmas was long associated with Jesus of Nazareth as "the Christ," from the Greek christos, "anointed." In Old English, Cristes maesse meant "Christ's festival"; in our time, some felt that this left out all who were not Christian.

But language resists correction by fiat. No Scrooge will appear on a telecast of Dickens's "Season's Carol," nor will podcasters edit Bing Crosby's voice into singing "I'm dreamin' of a white holiday." The edging away from the word with "Christ" in it, now justified as church-state separation or as minority sensitivity, may have begun with commercial greeting-card manufacturers coming up with Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays to appeal to non-Christians, as well as to stretch the sales and delivery timetable to include New Year's Day and its aftermath (a 13-day period that used to be called Christmastide).

Merry Christmas to all, and a Happy New Year.