‘TIS the season to be jolly … or not.

Christmas in New York is one of the most magical experiences. Fairy lights line the streets, kids marvel at the themed window displays along Fifth Avenue, Central Park is as picturesque as it looks in the movies, and ice skaters frolic along the rink at Bryant Park.

Ah yes, there’s nothing like a New York Christmas.

That is, until you say it. The one salutation that you’re not supposed to say.

“Merry Christmas”.

That’s right. It came as a shock to me, too.

I was first warned about wishing someone a Merry Christmas when I rolled up to the Big Apple, from Australia, in December 2014.

A new friend warned me it was politically correct to instead wish a someone a “happy holiday”.

The revelation hit me after the fact when I was in a cab and wished the driver a Merry Christmas. He groaned at me and yelled a few expletives that can’t be described here. I was in shock. How could such a common phrase be so inflammatory?

“It’s one of those things, you want to say Merry Christmas but you don’t want to offend anybody, and that’s why people say happy holidays,” an American friend explained later.

“I just say have a good holiday to people, I don’t like to, but at the same time, you don’t want be an a**hole. It’s stupid.”

media_camera Angry Santa is in the house.

A recent Australian export experienced a similar situation. He was at a “holiday party” (that’s what they call it here), when he wished someone a Merry Christmas from across the table.

He was swiftly escorted away by a friend and warned, “It’s not Merry Christmas here, it’s happy holidays”.

Granted, New York City is a clash of cultures; its Jewish population outnumbers Australia by nearly two million (120,000 in Australia in comparison to New York’s 2,028,200), so political correctness is key.

But even ABC News in America is calling it a “wintry culture war” and the “the season of mixed messages”.

“Any effort to be all-inclusive by referring to the “holidays” has riled those anxious to keep Christ at the centre of the season and even sparked political battles,” reads the story.

Yet the saying isn’t even about Christ for me; it’s a warm gesture, a greeting and just something nice to say to people. I don’t get the hooha?

The salutation has disappeared to such a point, my friend tells me, that “it’s a rarity if someone says Merry Christmas to you, straight up. It’s kind of like a pleasant surprise almost. At this point people have just got used to saying happy holidays.

“It depends on the person you’re talking to, where they’re from and their whole perspective on it.”

Perhaps this will be a Blue Christmas after all.

Elvis Presley - Blue Christmas

- youngma@news.com.au

Originally published as You can’t say this in New York