in thinking that ' are you all ready for Christmas then' is the most facile question ever?

[ElizabethHoover]

and the asker doesn't really give a toss and the answer will only be dull
?

STOP ASKING IT

What can we call reindeer cocks wrapped in bacon?!
Night all. Bloody shattered .

Ooh good point Endoplasmic, I shall enquire with DH is he's been asked

I hate it.

I loathe Christmas, have done so from about age 15. I can't stand any of it. I hate the tat and the tackiness, the compulsory jollity , the assumption there is something inherently amusing about Christmas jumpers, the rubbish mass catering office lunches, Christmas songs, Christmas adverts, all of it.

The only part I like is the service on Christmas Eve in the Episcopalian cathedral. This is an utterly beautiful building, bells and smells and as the cathedral has its own music school, (almost certainly ) the best choir and organist in Scotland.

I ask this when I've got naff all else to talk about with someone. It's on a par with asking how was your weekend, have you got anything nice planned for the weekend etc (generally chit chat with colleagues and acquaintances).

You're right though, if I'm scraping the conversation barrel with that question, then the fact is I really couldn't give a toss what the person I'm talking to says.

Shortaris if I could like a comment it would be yours ,also work in retail enough said

same here, i think i've asked it more times than i can count today.

its obvious when your customers are doing their christmas shopping, and it follows that to initiate the employer required conversation you ask

are you ready for christmas?
or
have you got much left to do after this?

Saga? Is that you?

Knobs in blankets! I'm just going to cheerfully shout that next time someone asks me the xmas readiness question.

Trouble with the question is that there is no real answer. There's always more gifts you could buy, more sweets you could make, more food you could plan for the various Important Days of the Season. And in the end, you just flop down late on Christmas Eve, look Christmas square in the eye and say, "Bring it on!"

Why would a Jewish person be offended by that? . A Muslim in a hijab asked me this very question yesterday as it goes, I don't think she was too offended to merely discuss the season that is upon us.

I got asked it twice, once by her and once by a shop assistant. It's just another shit piece of small talk for me to awkwardly reply "yes! Pretty much. Just tying up some loose ends today hence why I'm in town..." I hate small talk but equally think the world would be weird without it.

The fact that there is 'no real answer' makes it easier. I was asked about 6 times yesterday and gave 6 answers, depending on mood and who asked.
It would be a weird world without small talk.
If everyone had to analyse what they were about to say before they said it we would all be pretty much silent!