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BTW, no need to excerpt this article....
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Which holiday? Just come out and say it - DAVID W. DOWNING

'In theaters this holiday."

That's part of the advertising campaign that preceded the recently opened movie, "The Polar Express." Which holiday? Veterans Day? In that case, I missed it.

Strange that a movie would play only one day. But of course, that's not what the marketing folks meant. The movie opened Nov. 12, the day after Veterans Day, and it will be playing for some time — maybe even through Presidents Day.

All this "holiday" stuff is driving me nuts. "Buy our product this holiday." Which holiday? It doesn't make sense.

I know what you're thinking. Just another rant from a guy who wants them to say "Christmas."

Not exactly. What I want is some accuracy and logic in the language that we use.

In the case of the movie, it makes sense to say it will be playing "this holiday season." In fact, that's what people used to say when they wanted to note the period of time encompassing Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year's Eve and Day, Kwanzaa and any other holiday that occurs during that period. Used that way, "holiday" is an adjective that describes "season." That makes sense.

Likewise, it makes sense to use "holiday" as an adjective to broadly describe shopping, entertainment, music, travel, giving or spirit. All of these can and do encompass more than Christmas.

But saying "this holiday" makes no sense. Which holiday?

It's not a crime to recognize a holiday by name. For example, I don't go "holiday" shopping; I go Christmas shopping. You might go Hanukkah shopping. That's the fact of what each of us is doing.

And the holiday season is not one, universal event. Remember, it's a time period encompassing numerous independent holidays, each with its own unique practices. For example, it is traditional to celebrate Christmas by decorating an evergreen tree. This icon of the Christmas holiday is known as a Christmas tree.

So why do the city of St. Paul and the Pioneer Press insist on referring to the decorated evergreens erected downtown as "holiday trees?" The paper reported that the trees would be up for "the holiday season." Good. Mayor Randy Kelly said the trees are a sign that "the holidays" are approaching. Fine.

But for crying out loud — they're Christmas trees! Why can't we acknowledge that?

This slight jumped out at me when it appeared in the same Pioneer Press "In Brief" column that just two days earlier had reported the White House commemoration of the Hindu holiday of Diwali, which involved a local college professor. In that report, the newspaper rightly had no qualms about referring to Diwali by name and reporting the background of the holiday. By doing so, the newspaper served its readers by giving them news and information.

So why is "Christmas" a dirty word?

The Diversity Police have gotten it all wrong. In their zeal to see that no holiday is left behind, they risk rendering all holidays equally neglected. They started with the goal of helping us as a community learn about and recognize each other's holidays. But I fear the effect may be just the opposite. If we can't mention a specific holiday — Christmas, for instance — because not everyone observes it, then we're on the road to a generic "holiday season" in which we all celebrate our own private holidays, unbeknownst to our neighbors.

Then, we'll be even more segregated than when the Diversity Police first came to town.

The answer is not in pretending that certain holidays don't exist. The answer is in treating each holiday as a fact. They exist. Some holidays might be observed by most people; some might be observed by only a fraction of us. But they exist. Some people might observe several holidays; others might observe only one (or none at all). Regardless, the individual holidays exist.

So let's be honest and straightforward. A Christmas tree is a Christmas tree. Let's call it what it is.

Each holiday is a holiday — each with its own name. Let's use it.