Seems the censors' inabilities to reason aren't limited to the U.S....
SYDNEY - Santas in Australia have been discouraged from
saying their traditional catch phrase, "ho, ho, ho,"
because some feel it could scare children and offend
women. Instead, hundreds of men hired by the Westaff
recruitment firm to play Santa Claus for the holidays
have been told to say "ha, ha, ha." One would-be Santa
told The Daily Telegraph he quit after he was told not
to use "ho, ho, ho" because it could be mistaken for the
U.S. slang for prostitute. "Gimme a break," Julie Gale,
who runs Kids Free 2B Kids, a campaign against sexualizing
children, told the newspaper. "We are talking about little
kids who do not understand that 'ho, ho, ho' has any other
connotation and nor should they." Several large stores in
Australia have said they have no plans to censor their
Santas. Westaff's Santa coordinator wrote in an e-mail to
stores: "Part of our advice to our Santas is that they
should be mindful of children having their first Santa
experience. We ask our Santas to try techniques such as
lowering their tone of voice and using 'ha, ha, ha' to
encourage the children to come forward and meet Santa."
SYDNEY - Santas in Australia have been discouraged from
saying their traditional catch phrase, "ho, ho, ho,"
because some feel it could scare children and offend
women. Instead, hundreds of men hired by the Westaff
recruitment firm to play Santa Claus for the holidays
have been told to say "ha, ha, ha." One would-be Santa
told The Daily Telegraph he quit after he was told not
to use "ho, ho, ho" because it could be mistaken for the
U.S. slang for prostitute. "Gimme a break," Julie Gale,
who runs Kids Free 2B Kids, a campaign against sexualizing
children, told the newspaper. "We are talking about little
kids who do not understand that 'ho, ho, ho' has any other
connotation and nor should they." Several large stores in
Australia have said they have no plans to censor their
Santas. Westaff's Santa coordinator wrote in an e-mail to
stores: "Part of our advice to our Santas is that they
should be mindful of children having their first Santa
experience. We ask our Santas to try techniques such as
lowering their tone of voice and using 'ha, ha, ha' to
encourage the children to come forward and meet Santa."
