Today, in yet another utterly useless marketing exercise, GMTV informed us all that 'a survey' conducted among young people showed that most didn't think it ought to be called Christmas, a result which hinged - improbably - on the hardly world-shattering news that most didn't know the nativity story.
Of course, they didn't explain any of the important details, such as the ethnic makeup of those polled, their socio-economic backgrounds, age, gender, the precise phrasing of the questions or any of the crucial information you need to make sense of any survey. In fact, one is left with the sneaking suspicion that many of their surveys are based on little more than questions scrawled on the backs of envelopes which were passed round a crowded tube train on the way into work that morning.
But in their eagerness to entice the illiterate viewer into watching yet more advertising, they miss the point entirely; that it doesn't matter what actual name is given to the period when we swap presents, have Christmas trees and watch grandmother sink into a sherry-induiced stupor after downing the largest slice of turkey imaginable and eating enough at a single sitting to maintain a herd of wildebeest for a month.
Many of the terms we have for events these days bear no relation to their original meanings. We don't think of the Thunder god every Thursday, for instance nor does anyone venerate a slaughtered priest or two - no one knows for sure - every February the 14th. It doesn't matter what we call the holiday, and the name 'Christmas' is as good as any. Xmas is also a good standby, and all that matters is that the turkey is cooked through. More sherry?
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