Uhhhh.... would anyone actually be offended by that?

So . . . is this court order calling women "hos?"

???

This is exactly the kind of bullshit drummed up by anti-feminists to make women look ridiculous. Feminists will be blamed for this, no doubt, but I'll bet if you follow the decision-making chain in this one you'll find some woman-hating asshole laughing his ass off somewhere.

...while, in related news, gardening and hardware stores are now offering "soil turning implements" for sale in order to make feminists look silly. Film at 11.

And I can't wait to see how Bill O'Reilly incorporates this into his on-going War On Christmas (TM).

Bullshit.

I suspect you're right, sgzax.

I had heard about this, but thought it a joke, and really rather ridiculous.

It struck me as almost a slap-in-the-face to scenarios where sexual harassment does exist, say when I walk by the construction workers on my school's campus, and nothing is done. They can sit and holler all they want, but Santa is banned from saying ho. Fabulous.

ugh you're right, this is exactly the crap that makes feminists look bad.

I guess it was the Santa company who suggested "ha ha ha" - this is from the linked article:
"A local spokesman for the US-based Westaff recruitment firm said it was "misleading" to say the company had banned Santa's traditional greeting and it was being left up to the discretion of the individual Santa himself."
So, no law suit. Just stupid corporate fumbling.

Yeah... that should read "no lawsuit," I guess. Ooops! I guess you can tell I'm not a lawyer.

...and in other news,

All men named Dick must now be addressed as "Richard" or simply "Hey, you."

Roosters may now only greet the dawn with "Cluck-a-doodle-doo!"

Female canines may only be referred to as "dogettes."

Imaginary (and apparently remarkably thin-skinned) feminists will be blamed for all of the above.

And now the weather...

Aw shoot, EG beat me to it!

Nice one, EG. Great minds, and all that?

If "ho ho ho" wasn't a seasonal sexist epithet, it might soon be.

Okay, firstly, I'm Australian and this article has it wrong-- the reason that it was suggested he change to "ha ha ha" was because the company perceived "ha ha ha" as less frightening to children. I have NO IDEA where they got the idea that it was because women were offended. I guess they just wanted to make feminists look bad.

Nonetheless, it's still stupid. I mean, they're worrying about the laugh, when the real issue is that parents want to force their kids to sit in the lap of some stranger (if the kid WANTS to sit in Santa's lap, it's fine of course), while still reinforcing the message that they have the right to say no to adults who use touch to make them uncomfortable. But his laugh is irrelevant to that issue.

Thanks, Vervain! I'm always happy to be found thinking like you...

If Santa were to be shouting "ha ha ha" I'd be like "what you laughin at bitch" I don't mind "ho ho ho"

Wait and see, feminists are gonna be blamed for this any minute now!

The reason he uses the O vowel instead of the A is that it's more closed and therefore more baritone. It sounds like it originates deeper, and makes him more genuine and affable. It's a sound that's just so much more reassuring... and kids are sure going to be freaked out when he laughs like a maniac with his open mouthed vowels instead.

Is Syndey run by 12 year old boys? I had no idea.

EG and Vervain's comments made me chuckle, but then I thought of how we called fried potatoes "Freedom Fries" after 9/11, it made me a little queasy to think this isn't that far off from reality.I think that is a conservative's idea of what they think political correctness should be.

when someone linked this on my blog i thought it was a joke...and i still have no opinion...i was never offended...it's like it was a non issue until someone made it one...i mean wtf? that is my only opinion, i mean...did anyone really care what santa was saying?

If I go "hee hee hee," am I submitting to the patriarchal control over society? Should I go "her her her" and sound like a total dork instead?

"Ho ho ho" was around long before people got so damn sensitive to the point of looking for things to find offensive.

Makes me want to laugh, but my onomatopoeic expression of laughter may be offensive to someone. *gasp*

actually this would be a good time to ban ho-hos while we're at it, because that is one nasty snack.

lunalelle--You won't sound like a dork. You'll sound like a seal.

Yeah, I agree this story is ridiculous--I think WingNut Daily already added it to their war against Christmas stuff--The F Word wrote about it a few days ago.
http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2007/11/ho_ho_ho_story

I love how they say women might be offended by "ho ho ho," but OH LOOK! They didn't quote any women who found it offensive or cite any surveys showing that women find it offensive. (If we want to be really nitpicky, Santa's usage of "ho ho ho" far predates the use of "ho" as an epithet.)

As usual, it's a bunch of dudes making ignorant-ass assumptions about what they THINK women think, and as usual, they're completely and embarrassingly WRONG WRONG WRONG.

"the Daily Telegraph reported"

All you need to know right there. The right-wing rags in the UK love this kind of "political correctness gone mad" stuff, and 99% of the time it's complete bullshit, or whipped up from the teeniest kernel of truth.

The real story, that "ho ho ho" might be too scary, seems pretty funny. There's a classic cartoon version of "A Visit From St. Nicholas" that features a Santa who has sort of a "bwa ha ha" going on. Always found it very frightening, actually.

I never thought that Santa saying "ho ho ho" would ever become offensive. It seems a little out there and I totally agree with the others saying that there will probably be other things that will be changed just "in case" they might be offensive to women. makes me wonder what else they will change.

You know, if I kept a list of the dumbest fucking things I've ever heard (and I've thought about it), this would probably make the top five.

now I can't get that scene from "A Christmas Story" out of my head. Talk about scary "ho ho ho." And then he kicks him down the slide!

Classic.

A male told me about this story and automatically assumed the movement was started by a feminist organization. They thought the claim was ridiculous and associated this ridiculousness with feminists. As another poster said, situations like this doesn't help address the most important inequalities between men and women in the world.

Welcome to 2007, folks.

This is an example of what happens when we assume that someone will be offended. Misogynist and misandrist jokes should never, ever be tolerated in anyway, form or fashion -- but this goes way to far.

We can whine about it all we want, but I have a bad feeling that this kind of crackdown will be continuing for at least another 30-50 years. And after all of the things that people fear may be considered misogynist is banned via court orders and legislation, there will be no winners, just losers. Which is why I support the work of the National Coalition Against Censorship.

Sorry about the mis-link. Here is the site:

www.ncac.org

Well, if they did outlaw that then that mean there was enough public sentiment against it. How do you know a lot of people in that particular city didn't really find it offensive for whatever personal reason? You post pictures, posters, videos that are offensive and sexist to YOU on this site, have you considered that they may not be offensive to other people?

"How do you know a lot of people in that particular city didn't really find it offensive for whatever personal reason?"

Gee, maybe because they didn't manage to scrounge up a single quotation from an offended party?

Snopes has covered this:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/christmas/hohoho.asp