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The Allusionist

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A PODCAST ABOUT LANGUAGE
BY HELEN ZALTZMAN

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The Allusionist

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Allusionist 48: Winterval

December 6, 2016 The Allusionist

There's a word that has become shorthand for 'the war on Christmas' with a side of 'political correctness gone mad': Winterval. It began in November 1998. Newspapers furiously accused Birmingham City Council of renaming Christmas when it ran festive ev...

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There's a word that has become shorthand for 'the war on Christmas' with a side of 'political correctness gone mad': Winterval.

It began in November 1998. Newspapers furiously accused Birmingham City Council of renaming Christmas when it ran festive events under the name 'Winterval'. The council's then-head of events Mike Chubb explains the true meaning of Winterval.

2018 update: There’s a Winterval-themed riff on the Christmas sweater available at theallusionist.org/merch, for all your multidenominational festivewear needs.

READ ALL ABOUT IT:

  • Politico: a short history of the War on Christmas.

  • Time: a brief history of the War on Christmas.

  • Salon: the right-wing invented the War on Christmas - and Christmas has always been commercial.

  • A quick rundown of Christians banning Christmas.

  • Kevin Arscott is the Winterval historian: his book, The Winterval Myth: A Festive Tale of Bad Journalism documents all the instances of Winterval being misreported. Here's the TL;DR version in the Guardian; here's the Daily Mail's apology in 2011.

  • The excellent Oliver Burkeman says political correctness works. Here he is refuting Christmas controversies such as Winterval in 2006, and the War on Christmas in 2012.

  • One casualty of the war on the War on Christmas - anyone need a lift to the airport?

  • The Massachusetts Bay Colony vs Christmas.

  • Oliver Cromwell vs Christmas, especially those pesky carols.

  • The Society for the Prevention of Useless Giving vs Christmas.

  • Did King Herod really order the execution of all those baby boys?

  • Was Jesus really born on 25 December? No, probably not.

  • Did the Ancient Romans invent Christmas?

  • Ten countries that banned Christmas.

  • Waterford's annual Winterval is going strong.

  • As is Distresstivus in Florida.

  • The transcript of this episode is at theallusionist.org/transcripts/winterval.

RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
zeugma

CREDITS:

  • Mike Chubb runs the Ideas Factory events company. Hire him at theideasfactory.biz.

  • The music is by Martin Austwick; I particularly like the versions of 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' and 'Little Drummer Boy' you can hear in the show.

  • This episode was produced by me, with Cheeka Eyers and Devon Taylor.

  • Find me at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow or twitter.com/helenzaltzman.

- HZ

In episodes Tags words, language, zeugma, Christmas, Winterval, Xmas, War on Christmas, Daily Mail, Mike Chubb, events, Birmingham, media, press, newspapers, festive, festivities, festivals, multiculturalism, lies
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