SANTA ARGH!!

[User202022]

To me it’s always been FATHER CHRISTMAS!

Every book I seem to read to my children containing said jolly man with white beard calls him SANTA BLOOMING CLAWS! (I have to change it even if it means the book no longer rhymes).
i can cope with St Nicholas but just cannot abide by Santa! Argh!
Is this just me?

It's was alway Father Christmas when I was young. We live in the South East so also used to wrongly assume Santa was an Americanism. ( my DM hates everything American other than Elvis Presley so would have shuddered if we'd said Santa)

My kids say FC too but often switch to Santa. Just googled the history and it's quite interesting about them originally being two different things that we merged into one character.

I'm Scottish and it's Santa, my DP is from SE England and it's Father Christmas. Father Christmas sounds very posh to me, but DS uses them interchangeably!

What? I’ve been leaving out carrots for his reindeer for the past six decades! 😮

but Santa seems so American and commercial!

It's not @inappropriateraspberry
It's Scottish and Irish!

What a stupid thing to get upset and angry about, call him what you like who cares?! Well obviously you do so have a few drinks ,chill out and think about all the things going on in the world that actually are worth getting upset about 🙄

Santa is what we call him in Scotland, and have done for decades.

Not everyone has the same life experience as you do!

I much prefer Father Christmas.

I always think of Santa as really common 🤷‍♀️

We have Santa where I’m from, my mother in law thinks it’s terribly common. She was irrationally upset about it for a while! Thankfully she got over it.

There are plenty of stories that have ‘Father Christmas’ in them, maybe visit the library and have a good rummage.
eg;
The Father Christmas
Emily Brown meets Father Christmas
Dear Father Christmas
Alfie’s Christmas
Lucy and Tom’s Christmas
(And most Shirley Hughes Christmas books)
Father Christmas needs a wee
Topsy and Tim meet Father Christmas etc

The Americans initially new the character as Kris Kringle. Dutch settlers were the ones to introduce the name Santa Claus.

I knew him as ‘Deda Mraz’, which translates as Grandfather Frost. So closer to Father Christmas. He was/is a New Years character though, as that’s the big holiday where i’m from over Christmas.

We get this every year on Mumsnet. I think you just want to hear that you are better than them, like a Two Ronnie's sketch.

You are considerably better than them because you say Father Christmas unlike the common folks and foreigners with their own histories. Bastards.

How snobby of you.

Always been Santa round here (East coast Scotland) and if you said Father Christmas you’d sound a right dick 😂😂

He's always been Father Christmas to me and we referred to him as such when dc were small. Some European countries call him that as well, including France.

But I also know he has other names as well, and that the name Santa is a diminutive of St Nicholas/Niklaas/[insert other random European spelling here].

I do prefer the European images of him rather than the one invented by Coca Cola for their advertising campaign, which seems to be ubiquitous now.

Oh this old chestnut makes its annual appearance.

In Scotland it always was and still is Santa. When I lived in England I had to remind myself it was Father Christmas, which is such a mouthful to say.

As PP have pointed out, Sants Claus is a derivative of Saint Nicholas and many European countries' names for him have some resemblance to it.

Every year somebody comes on to complain about using the "American" term Santa - zzzzzzzzz

""YellowTreeHouse
*I much prefer Father Christmas.

I always think of Santa as really common 🤷‍♀️""

How snobby of you.*

And unaware!
There are different words for things in different parts of the world and even the same country. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Father Christmas grates on me and sounds a bit affected.

However I'm.able to recognise that this is my prejudice/preconceived ideas and get over it quickly. E.g. when DD2 asked "Who is this Father Christmas?" I replied "That's what some people call Santa".

Job done. Try it (in reverse). You'll have a much nicer Christmas.

I do prefer the European images of him rather than the one invented by Coca Cola for their advertising campaign, which seems to be ubiquitous now.

That's a myth. They may have helped to popularise the red and white with a bushy beard but he'd been depicted in those colours long before Coca Cola used the character in their adverts.

theferret.scot/fact-check-coca-cola-red-santa-claus-christmas/

It's always been Santa where I live, either are ok!

Isn’t it funny how language works and evolves?

Where I live (not UK), “Father Christmas” would be seen as very common as it’s associated with the English.

How ins

How insular you sound.

It's always been Father Christmas in my family as well as Le Pere Noel. And Father Christmas amongst my friends. I appreciate we're probably in the minority. My DCs say both FC and Santa.

Snort.

These threads come earlier and earlier every year don't they.

I said 'seems' I didn't say it was exclusively American.

I fail to see the problem really. It was Father Christmas to me as a child, but even then I was aware of other names.

My DD says Santa because that was easier for a toddler to say, but is equally aware that the same figure is called Father Christmas.