SEASONS' GREETINGS

Misspellings have a way of annoying an old English teacher. Not that I'm unable to share in them. But Seasons Greetings without the end apostrophe is like fingernails on the chalkboard.

For you see, its extending pleasantries for more than one season. Thus the apostrophe is obligatory. If it were only one season, then it is still necessary to place the apostrophe between the n and s. Which makes the greeting so generic that there is almost no meaning. In addition, it could apply to any holiday at any time of the year. Yet I've never heard Season's Greetings for Halloween, Labor Day, or any of the other ones.

Clarity is important. That why the House/Senate Health Care Bill runs over 2,000 pages. Hopefully, it's studied carefully and will take another 30 years to come to pass. But I digress. If you want to wish someone a Merry Christmas, then say it, for goodness sake. If it's Happy Hanukkah, then by all means. Same with Happy Kwanzaa.

Only if you have no clue what you mean should you wish someone Seasons Greetings sans apostrophe. And don't even think of Merry Xmas.