When Language Goes Bad

As the Christmas holiday season begins this weekend, this story from Australia was in the Star-Tribune on Monday:

When it comes to letting out a spirited "ho, ho, ho," it seems that Santas in Australia are being told, "no, no, no."
The Daily Telegraph in Sydney reported that those portraying Santa Claus in the nation's largest city must not use the Jolly Old Elf's traditional laugh because it could be offensive to women.

Instead, the Santas are being told, they should say "ha, ha, ha," the newspaper reported.

One Santa told the newspaper that a recruiting firm warned him not to use "ho ho ho" because it could scare kids and was too similar to "ho," a shortened version of a slang term for a prostitute.

I guess that's what happens when you are unfortunate enough to speak a "living" language that changes quite frequently. But the poor Christmas season now has at least two words to watch out for. After all, we have to watch out when decking the halls that we don't (or do?) wear our "gay apparel.

I am sorry that the TV writers are on strike. It would be fun to see what Daily Show and Colbert Show writers would do with this one.