Santa Claus Under Attack in Australia

Australian Staffing Agency Says Santa's "Ho, Ho, Ho" Maybe a Threat to Women and Children

I think I have heard it all... An Australia-based recruitment firm Westaff, which supplies hundreds of Santa Clauses across the country, has told its trainees that the "ho, ho, ho" phrase could frighten children and could be derogatory to women. Simply put, this is political correctness gone absolutely insane. The article goes on to say that Santas across Sydney, Australia are rebelling against attempts to ban their traditional greeting in favor of "ha, ha, ha." How ridiculous. Two would-be Santas have quit the class and one has said that he was taught not to use "ho, ho, ho" because it was too close to the American slang for prostitute.

I scarcely think that little children would know the connotation any other way, except as used by Santa Claus. I think that Santa's customary greeting should remain a part of Christmases present and future. It is actually quite hilarious to think that a company could spend its time coming up with such ridiculous ideas, rather than making a real difference in the lives of needy children. Sydney mother Maybel Lopez said that she wanted her daughter, Andria, five, to grow up hearing Santa's "ho, ho, ho" just as she had, and that she did not realize the phrase had other connotations. Well, I guess thanks are in order to Don Imus, Al Sharpton and all the people who created a furor over the word, when it was used to describe the Rutgers University women's basketball team, which was very rude. Don't get me wrong, Imus was wrong to use the word and he has apologized and, in my opinion, he has paid his dues.

Westaff's national "Santa coordinator" Sari Hegarty has written to stores explaining the company's position. She has said that, "Westaff has been a provider of quality caring Santas for over 40 years." She added that "Part of our advice to our Santas is that they should be mindful of children having their first Santa experience and we ask our Santas to try techniques such as lowering their tone of voice, using 'ha, ha, ha' to encourage the children to come forward and meet Santa." The company has said that it was misleading to state that they were banning the greeting, but leaving it up to the individual Santa's discretion. Have we nothing better to do?

The American image of Santa Claus has evolved from the Bishop in Red Robes into that of a jolly old man with a warm and endearing smile. Today, they are trying to make him into a jolly old man, with a warm smile, plump and "Ha, Ha, Ha'ing" across Australian. I was curious to see the origins of "ho, ho, ho" and dug around on the Internet a little. I came across www.urbandictionary.com and it states that is the way many languages write how Santa Claus laughs and the laughter has long been an important attribute by which the character is identified. Further, it states that it represents an attempt to write the deep belly laugh of Santa Claus, as opposed to the higher-pitched "ha, ha, ha," which represents a more cynical laughter.

I say that we leave Santa Claus alone. Too bad he is coming under attack in parts of the U.S. for saying Merry Christmas. Funny how this was not a problem 20 years ago and suddenly, political correctness is a huge deal! Ho, ho, ho!