Is using "Father Christmas" vs "Santa" a class signifier?

[Flapjacker48]

Upper/upper middle - use "Father Christmas"

Working/lower middle - "Santa"

The "Santa" we use in the UK today is almost an original European export to American and has come back as a tackier and vulgar Santa.

@MichelleScarn bahaha brb just need to tell my 4 year old to stop being low class scum

@Emerald5hamrock love the reply!

I grew up on a council estate in Liverpool. It's always been Father Christmas for us.

Kids say Santa. Americanism from you tube.

Father Christmas is an English thing, and when I was a kid we mostly called him that. Agree Santa is more Scottish/NI thing (Santy in Ireland). However, I work with kids and I think the American YouTube influence has definitely kicked in because they all call him Santa now, I prefer it to Father Christmas I think...

itwasntaparty x post!

@Starcaller

Lived all over Scotland in my 36 years and never heard anyone use Father Christmas. DD learned it just from Peppa Pig.

This! I’m forty and never met anyone in Scotland who called him Father Christmas. He’s always been Santa Claus. It’s not a class thing it’s a regional thing.

Weird that those who call him Father Christmas think it is though, that says something about them and their perception of perhaps those regions that use Santa.

@GreetingsAndSalutations

The obsession (some) people on MN have with class boggles my mind.

FYI I use both Santa and FC so I am clearly having an identity crisis or something.

Same here!

So much judgment in this little phrase from the OP: 'tackier and more vulgar Santa'!

@MrsWhites

My son says Santa, perhaps I should tell him to stop being so working class and call him Father Christmas instead!

In reality, who actually cares! 🤷‍♀️

I’m trying to train my Irish child out of Father Christmas , which he picked up from CBeebies. It’s never used here.

I'm from the Southern Hemisphere and say Santa. I'd never heard Father Christmas until recently (I guess I only just had kids in the last couple of years) and I know it's irrational but that term makes me shudder. So does the use of Father (insert priest name) so I guess it comes from the unfair stereotypes from the Catholic Church scandals over the years.

I grew up working class and always said Father Christmas. My kids have a more middle class upbringing and say Santa - I think this is due to an American influence via Tv shows/You tube rather than class. 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's a regional thing. I'm middle class, from East Anglia and say FC. As does almost every person I know, whatever their class. I've got Scottish friends who say Santa. I've got American PiL who say Santa.

It's just what you're used to. Growing up in Ireland it was always santy but now in England it's Father Christmas or occasionally Santa.

Jesus Fucking Christ, ANOTHER thread?!

@MaloryPowers

Father Christmas sound stuck up and not 'with the times'. We're not posh but not some poor country cousins either. Santa is more contemporary and we're happy to refer to the magic man as such .

‘With the times’ sounds like something Bridget Jones mother would say ie not with the times.

It can be both can’t it? Santa is said more in Scotland and that could either be direct from the Dutch or an early US import.

Further South it was traditionally Father Christmas - so using Santa is less traditional, in which case yep, can be a bit of a class signifier.

So, muddy…

Well I was raised by Irish parents from the Gaeltacht and it was Father Christmas all the way. We used to leave milk and cake out on the hearth at night and my father polished off the milk and cake and made muddy boot prints on the hearth for me to find in the morning. I never heard either of them say Santy or Santa but my father never learned Irish properly so they spoke English at home.

I think the only way you can get any class mileage out of this is to refer to Father Christmas by his Norwegian name Julenissen and keep working on that Norwegian pronunciation.

Solidly middle class Scot here. It's Santa all the way!

No, it's a regional thing.
Not everything is about class 🙄

And FWIW I grew up in a very deprived working class area and it was always Father Christmas.

I grew up very working class in the East end of London (pre gentrification), both of my parents left school at 14 with no qualifications, so definitely not middle class. They and I say father Christmas and always have, my whole family do.

Every. Fucking. Year.

And yet here I am, commenting.

JurgensCakeBabyJesus

Same background as me. We’ve always says Father Christmas.

And pictures instead of cinema.
Settee instead of sofa.
Unit instead of cabinet.

I grew up in Scotland with very posh mother and very common dad (she really married down). Always Santa in our house.

Could anyone please explain why such differences are important?
It seems to be totally unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

[quote SlashBeef]@MichelleScarn bahaha brb just need to tell my 4 year old to stop being low class scum[/quote]
Tell him all toys will be removed till he can admit and apologise for his social vulgarity!