ForumGarden

I've heard a few reasons given but, for one reason or another, Santas in Australia will not be bellowing "ho ho ho" this year.

This article states purely that it is because children are frightened by the noise and are being trained to say "ha ha ha" which is more understandable to them. I've also heard that it was because rap slang has them calling for prostitutes and that the utterance is just plain creepy.

Frankly, I find Santa just plain creepy so I avoid those areas of the malls. I doubt it's the "ho ho ho" that makes the kiddies cry.

koan;721327 wrote: I've heard a few reasons given but, for one reason or another, Santas in Australia will not be bellowing "ho ho ho" this year.

This article states purely that it is because children are frightened by the noise and are being trained to say "ha ha ha" which is more understandable to them. I've also heard that it was because rap slang has them calling for prostitutes and that the utterance is just plain creepy.

Frankly, I find Santa just plain creepy so I avoid those areas of the malls. I doubt it's the "ho ho ho" that makes the kiddies cry.


Santa Claus is an American creation. And Aussie kids aren't stupid. They would naturally view with caution some old bloke with white faux Edwardian whiskers, dressed in a padded red furry suit and driving weird looking kangaroos - one with a red nose - through snow in a jingling sleigh - when the summer temperature is over a hundred and they're off to the beach. Either ho ho ho or even ha ha ha - would be very frightening in these circumstances. And as for cuddling up on his jolly knee..... give us all a break...

Rap slang! - I doubt whether too many fair dinkum aussie kids understand a single word of eubonics.

After over a century of Christmases, suddenly too many kids today are scared of santa? Not buying that. It's got to be an overabundance of PC. How about scrap the ho's and the ha's and just say Merry Christmas? Oops can't say that either. *sigh* Even "hi there" would work. Whoops. Drug reference.

I wish they'd leave santa alone and do something about those salvation army bell ringers instead.

Christmas could be interpreted as a festival with possible religious overtones. This is BAD. It should be completely cancelled, just in case any one is offended.

I think it's really important to have a big family holiday but Christmas is hardly religious anymore, it's about gift giving now for most people.

Christmas is still a religious holiday for many people the world over. It is a time of remembrance for the gift of the Christ Child.

Santa and his modern personage-it has grown and expanded over the years, more than his waistline-which is also coming into dispute this year. PC has gone too far, but also the merchandizing industry and use of Santa , which has diminished what he was originally.

It is a parent's/family/individual decision whether to have the idea of Santa around, just the same as whether to celebrate Christmas as religious holiday.

On the radio, where I heard about this, the suggested that the next PC move will be to ban "Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer" as it might be offensive to drunks. :yh_tong2

They always make fun of my nose!

I think it's time the Animal Ethicists stepped in and rescued those poor reindeer. Especially driving them over here to Australia where it's hot and they could be bitten by dingoes or took by sharks would seem totally unnatural and beyond cruel. And as for Santa's elves - this kind of third world sweat shop exploiting stature challenged workers is just not on in our more caring world.

Wow, now someone really understands..................

chonsigirl;721393 wrote: Christmas is still a religious holiday for many people the world over. It is a time of remembrance for the gift of the Christ Child.

Santa and his modern personage-it has grown and expanded over the years, more than his waistline-which is also coming into dispute this year. PC has gone too far, but also the merchandizing industry and use of Santa , which has diminished what he was originally.

It is a parent's/family/individual decision whether to have the idea of Santa around, just the same as whether to celebrate Christmas as religious holiday.


Being serious for a moment. I agree with you Chonsi. Personally I'd be glad to see the end of Santa. I think he was used from early on to blackmail kids into being good - in the early Dutch version you got a stick in your stocking if your behaviour hadnt been great. These days he's just a commercial prop to increase demand to buy buy buy.

And something else now too. With the Hollywood industry churning out new levels of schmaltz but also some very seedy and increasingly unpleasant Santa movies... it's not surprising kids are unsure .. And after all the parental and school peptalks on stranger danger, here we are thrusting our little charges onto the laps of these scarily-dressed apparent weirdos.

To be fair though, I think my kids' overall memories of Santa are happy ones.