SYDNEY (AFP) - Santas in Australia's largest city have been told not to use Father Christmas's traditional "ho ho ho" greeting because it may be offensive to women, it was reported Thursday.
Sydney's Santa Clauses have instead been instructed to say "ha ha ha" instead, the Daily Telegraph reported.
One disgruntled Santa told the newspaper a recruitment firm warned him not to use "ho ho ho" because it could frighten children and was too close to "ho", a US slang term for prostitute.
"Gimme a break," said Julie Gale, who runs the campaign against sexualising children called Kids Free 2B Kids.
"We are talking about little kids who do not understand that "ho, ho, ho" has any other connotation and nor should they," she told the Telegraph.
"Leave Santa alone."
A local spokesman for the US-based Westaff recruitment firm said it was "misleading" to say the company had banned Santa's traditional greeting and it was being left up to the discretion of the individual Santa himself.
edit: haha this reminded me of a chinese phrase "nei ge" as in "that", and it sounds like nigger... and some black guys could be taking it the wrong way ;p
Anti-corruption is going to make all teenagers of the modern generation either seem like terrorists to the adults that imposed these restrictions because they understand the meaning of "ho", or they will all graduate as infantile retards and systematically kill themselves when exposed to the real world.
SANTAS working in shopping centres across Australia have been banned from bellowing "ho ho ho" because it might frighten children.
Recruitment firm Westaff, which supplies hundreds of Santas around the country, yesterday confirmed the edict.
Westaff national operations manager Glen Jansz said the company's Santas had been urged to tone down their use of the "ho, ho, ho" phrase.
"The reason behind that is we find that in some cases the little kids can get a little bit scared of the deep 'ho, ho, hos' and we ask them to be mindful of keeping their voices to a lower level," he said.
"And kids are probably more inclined to understand 'ha, ha, ha', than 'ho, ho, ho'."
Thirty trainees at a recent Santa course were instructed to replace the traditional Christmas greeting with "ha, ha, ha".
A Santa veteran of 11 years told the Sunday Herald Sun the instructions were clear: "No 'ho ho ho'."
"We were told to say 'ha ha ha Merry Christmas'," he said.
Two Santa hopefuls reportedly left the course after the edict.
Family Council of Victoria spokesman Bill Muehlenberg described the ban as "nonsensical".
"Potentially any big guy in a red suit with a white beard is scary but I don't think him saying 'ho ho ho' would damage a child's psyche.
"Let's just concentrate on the kids having a good time."
A survey of Melbourne children yesterday found universal support for Santa's "ho ho ho".
"It's silly, we love hearing Santa's laugh," said Briony, 8, of Mitcham.
"It doesn't frighten me at all. It's what Santa is supposed to say," said Byron, 9, of Melton.
Yesterday in the Bourke St Mall, Santas appeared to be ignoring orders to stop the 'ho ho hos'.
David Jones's bellowed to a delighted group of children and rival Myer's Santa also kept up the jolly tradition.
The relevant part of the article:
Westaff national operations manager Glen Jansz said the company's Santas had been urged to "tone down" their use of the "ho, ho, ho" phrase – but he said it wasn't for fear of offending women.
"The reason behind that is we find that in some cases the little kids can get a little bit scared of the deep ho, ho, hos and we ask them to be mindful of keeping their voices to a lower level," he said.
On November 16 2007 01:45 yisun518 wrote: edit: haha this reminded me of a chinese phrase "nei ge" as in "that", and it sounds like nigger... and some black guys could be taking it the wrong way ;p
Skanky lesbian sluts always whoring our hollidays. I demand that not only does Santa say "ho" but he says it whilst lashing "reindeer" that are actually scantily clad women pulling a sleigh in the shape and design of a penis.
we should start making lots of regular words slang for bad words, like
hi (n)(v) - slang for hymen, used as verb to devirginize a girl example: Man, I just hi'd this 12 year old girl ; Man, my girlfriend said she had never been with a man before, but guess what, no hi T_T
see ya (see you) : slang for male ejaculate. example: I think my mom knows that my tissues are filled with see you.
please: slang for giving a blow job, derived from "pleasing a man" example PLEASE RIGHT NOW,,, BITCH
Why: Slang for a womans vagina, or crotch, which can look like a Y shape example: Man I wanna get in her why, get see you all over there Please, then hi that bitch
Soon we won't be able to talk at all to little kids.
On November 16 2007 01:45 yisun518 wrote: wow.... ho ho ho this is blasphemy.
edit: haha this reminded me of a chinese phrase "nei ge" as in "that", and it sounds like nigger... and some black guys could be taking it the wrong way ;p
Billy: "Why is Santa laughing at us, mommy?" Susanne: "Why, Santa's not laughing at you, sweety! Santa likes to say 'haha' instead of 'hoho' now." Billy: "But why? Why did he change, mommy?" Susanne: "Because 'ho' is also a name for an American prostitute, Billy. And Santa doesn't want to confuse you with a prostitute!" Billy: "But mommy, what's a prostitute?" Susanne: "A prostitute is like a clown, Billy. They do tricks for money!"
Billy: "That is kinda stupid, even for gown-ups. Ima check myself..." Billy performs a google search for 'prostitute clowns', scarring him for life, and also turning him into a homosexual
i might say "hoes hoes hoes" as a joke in the context of lots of skanky women walking around outside during christmas time, but i agree that little kids aren't going to get the connotation, nor should they. just like how adam sandler was the only one to burst out in hysterics when the teacher said 69 in billy madison.
Clearly the recruitment firm went overboard in trying to protect children. But it's definitely very soft news, the phrase "ho ho ho" is just tradition for tradition's sake.
It really wouldn't matter if we all grew up in a world where Santas say "ha ha ha" instead. The meaning isn't robbed for anyone except people who grew up listening to "ho ho ho" first.
Another ridiculous case of "trying to protect the children". When will these clowns realize that these protectionist policies cause more harm than good.
On November 17 2007 09:23 entityrj wrote: Clearly the recruitment firm went overboard in trying to protect children. But it's definitely very soft news, the phrase "ho ho ho" is just tradition for tradition's sake.
It really wouldn't matter if we all grew up in a world where Santas say "ha ha ha" instead. The meaning isn't robbed for anyone except people who grew up listening to "ho ho ho" first.
On November 16 2007 01:45 yisun518 wrote: wow.... ho ho ho this is blasphemy.
edit: haha this reminded me of a chinese phrase "nei ge" as in "that", and it sounds like nigger... and some black guys could be taking it the wrong way ;p
On November 16 2007 01:45 yisun518 wrote: wow.... ho ho ho this is blasphemy.
edit: haha this reminded me of a chinese phrase "nei ge" as in "that", and it sounds like nigger... and some black guys could be taking it the wrong way ;p
But it's pronounced nah ger....... how on earth would a black guy take that the wrong way.
On November 16 2007 16:58 Smurg wrote: What can I say, over here we don't encourage or propagate mass fear.
Lawl?
lawl like that time when apec week was on, the chief super-intendent steve cullen i heard so much bullshit on how the 'riots' were going to be something 'the world has never seen before'. When it was the police trying to povoke people into doing things during the protests *not riots.
LAWL! and yes i know you were being sarcastic, just trying to say that we can be as stupid as the americans with their fear propaganda bs
Hmmm, @.@ this is also the case why most Vietnamese in OZ whose first name is Phúc or Phước have their names changed to Phillip, Phil, Paul, or some shits like that. =[.
On November 16 2007 16:42 mensrea wrote: I would understand if the ban was in the context of a Chinese city. It must be irritating as hell to hear your name being called out like that.
On November 16 2007 01:45 yisun518 wrote: wow.... ho ho ho this is blasphemy.
edit: haha this reminded me of a chinese phrase "nei ge" as in "that", and it sounds like nigger... and some black guys could be taking it the wrong way ;p
But it's pronounced nah ger....... how on earth would a black guy take that the wrong way.
Think 'cos the (mainland) Chinese say na yi ge instead of na ge, and then tend to abbreviate it to nei ge.
EPT
