GayApparel

[indago]

Journalist Amy Hubbard wrote for Los Angeles Times 31 October 2013:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Hallmark ornament that reads "Don we now our FUN apparel!" has some people fuming. By substituting the Christmas carol lyric from "gay apparel" to "fun apparel" on the sweater-shaped ornament, the greeting card company stirred up a holiday storm.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

article



Gay Apparel

[O Really]

That's funny! Obviously the song didn't mean "gay" as in "homosexual," and never has, although there have been jokes in reference. So nobody could reasonably claim that it referred to anything needed clarification. So they change it to something more like the original meaning and get blamed for being anti-gay. Shoulda just left well enough alone. Better watch out, next May they'll be changing their song for the Kentucky Derby..http://kyderbyfan.freeservers.com/derbysong.html

[bannination]

Oh poor hallmark. Yet another business I'll cross of my list.

[O Really]

Maybe they should.

...'Tis summer, the people are gay;
...The young folks roll on the little cabin floor,...

I'm just guessing but I think the only people that would have bought an ornament that ugly are gays and PFLAG types if it actually said "GAY". Does Hallmark not understand niche marketing?

Yeah, and the original lyrics were "...and the darkies are gay"

[indago]

O Really wrote:

Yeah, and the original lyrics were "...and the darkies are gay"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yQu0sFykbw

[indago]

The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home,
'Tis summer, the darkies are gay;
The corn-top's ripe and the meadow's in the bloom,
While the birds make music all the day.
The young folks roll on the little cabin floor,
All merry, all happy and bright;
By 'n' by Hard Times comes a-knocking at the door,
Then my old Kentucky home, goodnight.

lyrics

[Cannonpointer]

I briefly had a line of cards under the dba "Hellmark," back in the early nineties.

Hallmark made me knock it off.

Yes. True story.

[Mr.B]

"Journalist Amy Hubbard wrote for Los Angeles Times 31 October 2013:"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A Hallmark ornament that reads "Don we now our FUN apparel!" has some people fuming. By substituting the Christmas carol lyric from "gay apparel" to "fun apparel" on the sweater-shaped ornament, the greeting card company stirred up a holiday storm."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

article



Gay Apparel

Good grief.......anything to start a ruckus to draw attention.

[Mr.B]

"You wouldn't have noticed the change and thought it dumb?"

I did see it in another article, and my first thought was that the gays were going to have a flying hissy fit....and they did.

I didn't construe the change to be discriminatory to gays, but rather Hallmark's attempt to eliminate any reference to gays or that the sweater was intended to be marketed as "gay apparel". But, as usual, the gay community jumped on it like a duck on a June bug screaming they were discriminated against.
Dumb? No, but not a smart marketing ploy, given the volatile nature of gay rights activists.

[rstrong]

No, but not a smart marketing ploy, given the volatile nature of gay rights activists.

So.... When a store uses "holiday stockings" or "Yule tree" and some Christians have their inevitable "War on Christmas" freak-out, do you consider it "a smart marketing ploy, given the volatile nature of Christians?"

[O Really]

I don't think it's especially discriminatory, just a predictably really stupid thing to do. Apparently, Hallmark now agrees that it was being hypersensitive to a common word with multiple meanings. It could be that "the gay community jumped on it like a duck on a June bug screaming they were discriminated against," but the linked article does not say that. Do you know that they did that or are you being hypersensitive, too, Mr.B?

The "gay community" probably would have jumped on it like a duck on a June bug for being accused of actually being caught wearing such a garmet.

[neoplacebo]

Eminently shunnable. Perhaps Hallmark was overly paranoid or sensitive to current social mores and will soon come out with some kick ass Thanksgiving and Christmas (religiously respectful and unshunnable) cards. As far as I know, "fun apparel" is very little or nothing.....not generally suitable for Christmas time hereabouts. But I could be wrong.

[Mr.B]

"So.... When a store uses "holiday stockings" or "Yule tree" and some Christians have their inevitable "War on Christmas" freak-out, do you consider it "a smart marketing ploy, given the volatile nature of Christians?"

Again, you are condemning all Christians as being volatile. There's many of us who dislike the use of the word "holiday" in lieu of
Christmas, due to the meaning of the word and what it signifies to us, but not all of us go off on the deep end when "holiday" or "Xmas" is used instead. We use the words we like and let it go at that. I and many others I know don't refuse to go to restaurants just because they serve alcohol either, but there are many who don't because they do. Stores open for business on the day of the week that I choose to worship, but unless I've absolutely gotta-hafta go for something, I don't shop on Sunday....that's my choice, but I don't raise hell because they're open.

My question is, if one doesn't believe in Christ, why bother to even go out and buy "holiday" stockings, "Yule" trees, or even celebrate "Xmas" all together?

[O Really]

My question is, if one doesn't believe in Christ, why bother to even go out and buy "holiday" stockings, "Yule" trees, or even celebrate "Xmas" all together?

Because it is simultaneously a religious holiday for some, and a secular holiday for others. You don't have to be religious to enjoy exchanging gifts, playing Santa, decorating the tree, and singing Jingle Bells or enjoying the beautiful music of "Messiah" for that matter. My gripe with those who complain about "Happy Holidays" is their failure to recognize that from mid November to early January, there are several holidays, and that time of the year is almost universally (except for the you-know-whos) considered the "holiday season."

[Mr.B]

"I think he was mocking your "volatile nature of gay rights activists". You cast the first stone, so to speak."

But he was right. There are many volatile-natured Christians; fundamentally extreme as the day is long.

[rstrong]

No, but not a smart marketing ploy, given the volatile nature of gay rights activists.

So.... When a store uses "holiday stockings" or "Yule tree" and some Christians have their inevitable "War on Christmas" freak-out, do you consider it "a smart marketing ploy, given the volatile nature of Christians?"

Again, you are condemning all Christians as being volatile.

No, I'm asking if YOU are.

YOU are calling "gay rights activists" volatile. The reaction to "holiday stockings" or "Yule tree" by "Christian activists" is no different. Fox News and various Republican politicians who have time and again had the same reaction over a perceived "war on Christmas" that the "gay rights activists" had over the sweater.

In what way is it unfair to label them the same way?

My question is, if one doesn't believe in Christ, why bother to even go out and buy "holiday" stockings, "Yule" trees, or even celebrate "Xmas" all together?

For many people today's Christmas is no more a Christian holiday than it is a pagan holiday. Christmas trees, Santa Claus, reindeer-drawn sleds, stockings hung over the fireplace, and mistletoe most assuredly are *not* Christian symbols. They come from pagan mythology. (Santa is the white-bearded Giftbringer of the north Odin, or Woden to the Germanic tribes and others.)

Jesus was born in the spring, not at winter solstice. The original Christian holiday - very different from today's - had Roman heritage: it was put on the 25th to coincide with Saturnalia, a day of feasting and celebration which emphasized peace and goodwill to all (sound familiar?).

Christmas - whatever the various roots - is simply part of our culture and heritage regardless of belief. Just like Santa, gifts, stockings and mistletoe remained part of our culture and heritage when the pagan mythology they came from disappeared. Taking a holiday at Christmas no more implies belief in Christ than holding it on December 25th means that Christians believe in the deity Saturn. Or that agreeing to meet on Wednesday implies belief in Woden. Or that having Easter bunnies and eggs implies belief in pagan spring fertility rights.

[rstrong]

In Colonial America, Thanksgiving, not Christmas was the important holiday during this season. As a matter of fact, the Puritans passed an "anti-Christmas" law in 1659 (it was repealed in 1681). Christmas was declared a holiday in Louisiana in 1837. President U. S. Grant declared Christmas a national holiday in 1870. It was declared a federal holiday in 1885 and federal employees were given the day off. The last state to declare Christmas a holiday was Oklahoma in 1907.

If there's a "War on Christmas", it was Christians who led the attack against it. Christmas won in 1885.

[Ombudsman]

Again, you are condemning all Christians as being volatile. There's many of us who dislike the use of the word "holiday" in lieu of
Christmas, due to the meaning of the word and what it signifies to us, but not all of us go off on the deep end when "holiday" or "Xmas" is used instead. We use the words we like and let it go at that. I and many others I know don't refuse to go to restaurants just because they serve alcohol either, but there are many who don't because they do. Stores open for business on the day of the week that I choose to worship, but unless I've absolutely gotta-hafta go for something, I don't shop on Sunday....that's my choice, but I don't raise hell because they're open.

Holiday comes from "holy day" and the X in xmas is a reference to the Greek letter Chi which is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός which comes into English as "Christ". Why does that offend you? Or do you just like being offended?

[Ombudsman]

Journalist Amy Hubbard wrote for Los Angeles Times 31 October 2013:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Hallmark ornament that reads "Don we now our FUN apparel!" has some people fuming. By substituting the Christmas carol lyric from "gay apparel" to "fun apparel" on the sweater-shaped ornament, the greeting card company stirred up a holiday storm.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

article



Gay Apparel

Definitely an odd choice considering that's the gayest sweater I've ever seen.

[Mr.B]

"Holiday comes from "holy day" and the X in xmas is a reference to the Greek letter Chi which is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός which comes into English as "Christ". Why does that offend you? Or do you just like being offended?"

Best not go spouting that holiday definition stuff around British atheists; "holiday" means vacation to them, and I knew the origin of "X" in "Xmas".....
That's why I said what I did about the part you have trouble understanding: "not all of us go off on the deep end when "holiday" or "Xmas" is used" ;
did you not understand that? Or is it you just strive on being offensive?