Could you call it SantaFest instead?
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The âSantaâ bit is still a religious reference. Santa Claus = Sankt Niklaus.
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Is weih still in use in German? Unfortunately wih lost out to halig in English, although it gave us witch.
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No dammit! Its a Christmas Market!
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See, I have just as much problem with the people objecting to your sale as I do the ones who insist on âMerry Christmasâ.
Holidays are perfectly capable of coexisting without being exclusionary. Calling it a Christmas sale isnât denying that itâs also Yuletide and Hanukkah, just that the main theme is likely to be either a secular and/or Christian themed. âChristmas Saleâ just says to me an equal chance of elves and nativity scenes, but there may be other observances or general winter themed things in there, too.
My objection to âMerry Christmasâ is just that I donât like being told what to do. I would be far more likely to say it, if certain jerks werenât mandating it.
OTOH, I am amusing some people and annoying others because I refuse to take down âHalloweenâ things for Christmas. Instead, I got a hat and scarf for my bat, am going to wrap my scythe in holly, get Christmas candy for my rat, and the crow is already the proud owner of a shiny red jingle bell and a shiny green wrapped present (instead of his usual paperclips). Call it a very gothic Yuletide theme.
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You are awesome!
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Someoneâs attacking the neighborhood with powerful strobe weapons. (Oh sorry, protecting the neighborhood with powerful safety signals.) At least itâs day, so itâs not as dangerous as at night.
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German Christmas Markets are called various things, but many begin with Christ-, so I was suggesting Weihnachtsmarkt (which is also used) as being more neutral. Incidentally, I discovered while doing a little research that St. Cloud in Minnesota has a Weihnachtsmarkt, but that seems to be due to the number of people of German origin.
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Yeah its just hilarious to me cuz Iâm not christian in the least, Iâm just annoyed that a few people are upset at our âChristmas Marketâ as if by calling it that we are being exclusionary, for petes sake we have Krampus! Its not like the Pope is going to be there! I say Happy Festivus most of the time. Or Happy Holidays. In fact I actually donât care what people wish me, Iâm just happy theyâre being nice. So this objection is just weird to me!
Like Iâm not Swedish but I go to the Swedish holiday market cuz its fun and cool! If you donât want to come to my market, donât, thats ok, but why complain to me about it? Thats the part I donât get! Do they want me to change the name and move it? Cuz that ainât happening!
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Itâs the American War On Christmas moving north of the border, unfortunately. Sorry about that.
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Okay, Iâll bite: in plain English using commonly-accepted terms, what is actually happening?
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I donât know. I could see the flashing reflecting off a wall. It was especially sharp flashing. I couldnât see in the direction of the source, first, because I was trying not to get hurt, second, because flashing and blinking objects obscure sight around them, like the sun obscures other things near it, and third, because flashing and blinking objects can create echo flashes elsewhere. (From my point of view, using flashes as safety signals seems like using a hallucinogenic and migraine-inducing gas as a safety signal, to replace fire alarms.) After the flashing stopped, there was some kind of utility truck with traffic cones and one of those mobile baskets-on-an-arm.
Sounds like utility work being done, or perhaps tree trimming.
I know those lights are horribly painful and disorienting to you, and my heart goes out to you. But just so you know, for most neurotypical people I know, those lights are a minor annoyance at night, and perfectly fine during the day. The contrast is noticeable, and by design, but harmless to the vast majority of people. We simply do not see them as weapons any more than we see the full moon as a blinding beacon, or orange pants as a vicious assault on the commonweal.
It would certainly be preferable to create attention-getting devices that arenât painful. Some of us neurotypical folks got a very small taste of the crap you go through every day when new fire alarms were installed on the Warner Bros studio lot a few years ago, and tested every day for a couple weeks. These were the first alarms Iâd ever encountered that made the room physically painful to endure, and my hearing is already shot from too many years of rock and roll and loud engines. Usually loud noises donât bother me, but these new fire alarms arenât just attention-grabbing, but apparently designed to shoo everybody outside as quickly as possible. Even if they have to be carried out in a quivering heap.
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All the doors to outside at my office emit high-pitched alarms if they arenât shut completely (and they wonât stop until they are). I can go from totally calm and absorbed in my work to sprinting to an improperly shut door if that alarm goes off. Same for the photocopier if it has a jam â the only fun part is the alarm sounds like John Lydon singing âprooooob-LAM!â on the Sex Pistols song to me.
I like to think some engineer snuck that in. It distracts me from grinding my teeth when the alarm is going off.
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My new office has a number of gender-neutral bathrooms, which is great! I havenât had to use a gendered one since the move. But increasingly they are all taken up by people who would be just as comfortable in a gendered bathroom, not considering that this is a major inconvenience to those of us who feel less safe in them. Pretty sure it wonât be long until I have to use a gendered one in an emergency because the neutral ones are always taken.
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Our cat, Sulfur, is sick; symptoms are vomiting, loss of appetite and the most pathetic yowl youâve ever heard. Looks like a trip to the vet is in our near futureâŚ
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Oh noes.
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Me: Is trans.
Jackass: âYouâre someone who I hope gets beat to death and murdered in an alley somewhere.â
The word is beaten, jackass, beaten.
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People claiming Trump was âdemocratically elected.â
If theyâve lived through November and December 2016, in the states, they ought to know better. A bare majority isnât really democratic, a plurality isnât really democratic, and winning without even a plurality isnât within Voyager IIâs range of being democratic.
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