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- Volume XLV: Christmas Edition
Volume XLV: Christmas Edition
This week, we’re uncovering the real stories behind familiar Christmas phrases. Wishing a Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!
I. Ho Ho Ho🎅
In medieval England, “ho!” was yelled by hunters to stop hounds and by townspeople to grab attention. A boastful way of saying “look here, something’s happening.”
When Santa’s image took shape in the 1800s, writers and illustrators gave him that same booming call. Not because it was cute, but because it filled the room.
So much to little kids chagrin, Santa didn’t invent ho ho ho but he sure did bring the Christmas spirit to it.
II. White Christmas ❄️
The phrase originally meant exactly what it sounds like: a Christmas Day covered in fresh snow.
It took on a deeper meaning in 1942, when Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” was released during World War II. For soldiers overseas, the song became a stand-in for home, peace, and the life they hoped to return to.
Since then, a “White Christmas” hasn’t just been about the weather.
It’s shorthand for nostalgia, quiet streets, glowing windows, and a version of the holidays that feels softer than real life usually is.
III. White Elephant 🐘
The phrase traces back to Southeast Asia, where kings of Siam were said to gift rare white elephants to members of the royal court they wanted to burden.
Sacred and untouchable, they could not be put to work and cost a fortune to maintain. A carefully disguised financial trap.
By the late 1800s, white elephant entered English lingo as something costly and impractical.
Today, you likely use it around the holidays in its more playful form: participants swap, steal, and jostle over tacky gifts, each vying for the best option.