What's Up you Ho Ho Ho?

For the AP article, click here.

It appears that in Sydney, Australia some Santa Clauses have been told that they now need to say (merrily!) Ha Ha Ha! instead of Ho Ho Ho! Why, you ask? Because Ho is a slang term IN THE US for prostitute. Not even in Australia (please, Bec, correct me if I'm wrong!).

I think that this particular incidence is a bit much for me to handle. Ho Ho Ho is the precursor to today's kids movies. Yes, I am man enough to admit that I snicker inside a little bit every single time I hear a Santa at the mall or on TV say "Ho Ho Ho" because I think he's calling a kid a name. It's funny. It's fun. It's okay.

Remember when we were kids and we watched movies? Robin Hood (the awesome cartoon version). Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Snow White.

These movies were made for children and drove parents up a wall because of their child-ness. They were voiced by no-named people because the parents would mindlessly buy anything by Disney. Kids didn't care and neither did parent types.

Now the movies that are prevalent are different. Yes they are child oriented, but there is a lot of parent humor to keep moms and dads interested. Finding Nemo. Monsters Inc. Bee Movie. Voiced by everyone from Seinfeld to Chris Rock. Kids don't care about those guys.

There are a lot of points of humor that are lost on kids completely because there is parent-funny material embedded. What child gets the humor of "oderant" in Monsters Inc? Certainly not my four year old niece. Every time I see it (which I saw at least eight times during one road trip this summer) I laughed. Most of the time I laughed out loud even!

Santa should be able to say Ho Ho Ho. It is something that kids know and something that I can laugh at.