AT AMAZON, THE Twelve Days of Christmas Holiday. “12 Days of Holiday?” What does that even mean? Besides someone not wanting to say “Christmas,” that is. (Via Mark Steyn). “Holiday” is not, in fact, a synonym for “Christmas.”
UPDATE: Reader Rob Maida writes:
Glenn,
I can’t define “12 Days of Holiday”, but a quick look at Amazon sites in Canada, the UK, France, and Germany show that they have no problem with the dreaded “C”-word (Christmas). Seems it’s only the US site where it’s banned.
Regards,
RobP.S. I still love Amazon and really wish they wouldn’t do stuff like this.
Yeah, me too. I did notice that the Amazon.co.uk site is headlined “Best Buys For Your Christmas Stocking.” Meanwhile, reader Kenneth Mitchell writes: “Glenn, I’m Jewish. I don’t ‘do’ Christmas. But my attitude has always been, just because it’s not _my_ birthday, that doesn’t mean that I can’t help friends celebrate!” And Mike Twain writes: “QVC.com is perfectly willing to have a 12 Days of Christmas promotion…then again their target demographic isn’t quite as ‘sophisticated’ as Amazon’s.”
Or the QVC marketers are more sophisticated. I mean, I don’t want to go all John Gibson here, but this sort of circumlocution is just lame. If you’re cashing in on Christmas — as all merchants are — you shouldn’t be afraid to say the word.