• May 26, 2012
WAR ON CHRISTMAS PAST

December 26, 2008

A Children’s Treasury of Dumb Quotes About Dismal Holiday Sales

by Ken Layne  

Christmas card from a hooker in Minneapolis.Congratulations, the War on Xmas is over. And guess who lost? Christmas! And the economy. Especially the economy. Looks like all the 70%-off sales in the world can’t squeeze money out of people with no money and no credit. It’s almost as if Santa left a lump of shit coal for U.S. Retailers! How many other variations of Seasonal Cliche can we squeeze out of American journalists and economists?

  • “Retailers went from ‘Ho-ho’ to ‘Uh-oh’ to ‘Oh-no.’” [Wall Street Journal]
  • “Big shopping weekend was ho-ho-hum.” [Associated Press]
  • “However, it’s a red Christmas for retailers — as in red ink.” [1010WINS]
  • “Ho-ho-hum weekend for struggling city retailers.” [New York Daily News]
  • “Data will contain nothing but coal this week.” [Marketwatch]
  • “A lump of coal for the holiday sales elf.” [AP]
  • “Santa swung a lighter sack this Christmas as shoppers bought less and paid less.” [Vancouver Province]

{ 51 comments }

Bruno December 26, 2008 at 9:51 am

Santa has a sack? I thought he was a transsexual.

Aurelio December 26, 2008 at 10:12 am

How about this one? “Grinch steals Christmas as world ends.”

4tehlulz December 26, 2008 at 10:28 am

Santa and his hos stayed him this Christmas, also.

Totowa December 26, 2008 at 10:28 am

…not even a Ho for Eliot Spitzer this month.

ManchuCandidate December 26, 2008 at 10:38 am

All this talk about Santa sacks reminds me of my favorite Xmas joke as an 8 year old.

Why did Santa end up in the hospital?
Because he threw the wrong sack over his shoulder…

Silence…

Get it? Hey, why is everyone throwing garbage?

azw88 December 26, 2008 at 10:55 am

I am waiting for my trillion dollar stimulus check before I go christmas shopping.

Cape Clod December 26, 2008 at 10:55 am

Yeah, Christmas lost because the only thing Christmas is about is about buying overpriced crap to give to people that you can barely tolerate. Next on the list, carpet bombing St. Valentine’s Day.

Darehead December 26, 2008 at 11:02 am

He’s a Red.
His obese.
His a monopolist.
He’s a foreigner.
His hair is too long.
He keeps talking about ho’s.
He fired his elves and tried to get reindeer to do their work.
Tell me, what are this guy’s good qualities?

rambone December 26, 2008 at 11:06 am

I liked the blank quote best. It pretty much says it all.

MrAgro December 26, 2008 at 11:07 am

Leave it to the reporters at the AP to take our torture to the next level.

NoWireHangers December 26, 2008 at 11:10 am

It’s 8 AM in California and I think I may head over to JCPenney to check out the Doorbusters!â„¢ But I’m only going to peruse the Ladies Knit Casualsâ„¢ and Sweaters for Himâ„¢ to help Uncle Santa Baby Jesus and the Economy and such because God Bless America. (The deals end at 1PM so find a babysitter and head on down!!1!)

“It’s going to be a White Christmas for America’s retailers, and by “white” me mean that they will be flying the epic defeatist white flag of defeat”

AngryBlakGuy December 26, 2008 at 11:14 am

…I got everyone on my Christmas list those little $0.99 bottles of vodka they sell at the liquor store!

AngryBlakGuy December 26, 2008 at 11:16 am

[re=205691]NoWireHangers[/re]: …trust me, as the desperation sets in they will soon have “doorbusters” everyday from now until summer!

cal December 26, 2008 at 11:18 am

The geniuses at CNN have joined in: “Grinchy holiday at the mall”

Ah, the death of the English language…

ivenson December 26, 2008 at 11:22 am

Is it just my computer….I don’t have alt text, only a box…with text in it….

Should there be a picture of a card from a lady of the evening? Furries? SOMETHING?

kudzu December 26, 2008 at 11:30 am

Enough with the “Children’s Treasury” thing. There ain’t no treasury no mo’ and chil’un ain’t got no nothin’ that even looks like a treasury; just ask Paulson.

Scottie December 26, 2008 at 11:41 am

Is “s*** coal” some new form of renewable energy?

V572625694 December 26, 2008 at 11:44 am

What about zinc bushing manufacturers? How’s their business doing? Did they have a good year? Isn’t that newsworthy too?

[re=205695]ivenson[/re]: Same thing here w/Firefox’n'WinXP

Botswana Meat Commission FC December 26, 2008 at 11:44 am

I was hoping for: “Retailers got raped this year worse than a Forever 21 cash register girl by a Mall Santa.”

gjdodger December 26, 2008 at 11:47 am

How about, “Christmas sales sucked more than Larry Craig during a three-hour layover at Atlanta.”

nmmagayar December 26, 2008 at 11:56 am

things were so bad, I had to hock my trucknutz

102415 December 26, 2008 at 11:56 am

Tom Waits ass would go nicely into the box.

azw88 December 26, 2008 at 12:13 pm

[re=205698]Scottie[/re]: Yup. Just hold you bowel movements in until they become rock-hard. Throw resulting log into yule fire for instant warmth. For extra X-mas cheer, hold said log inside long enough and a diamond shall result. Give said diamond to wife, lover, etc. Joyous sex shall follow.

Kev-O-Tron December 26, 2008 at 12:17 pm

[re=205695]ivenson[/re]: Something seems a little off kilt with this post.

I don’t know what you guys are talking about. I got a great haul this year – knew iPod, DVDs, art supplies….

What did I buy for people? Oh….

Warren Terror December 26, 2008 at 12:23 pm

Only two lumps of coal in Santa’s sack this year?

Serolf Divad December 26, 2008 at 12:25 pm

Next year will be a red Christmas, too… as in Red Chinese, who will own us by then.

Cape Clod December 26, 2008 at 12:27 pm

[re=205691]NoWireHangers[/re]: Isn’t it now called the “Trample Our Hapless, Underpaid Employees to Death Sale!”?

Lascauxcaveman December 26, 2008 at 12:28 pm

[re=205707]Kev-O-Tron[/re]: And I got my single malt scotch. Just the Glenlivet 12 year old, which I take as a downward trending economic indicator (compared to the Lagavulin I got last time) but still, a tradition is a tradition…

(I also got those Air Hogsâ„¢ R/C helicopters, which are a gas.)

Mustang December 26, 2008 at 12:34 pm

Just when I was despairing that there was no more creativity in journalism, Wonkette mines these gems! “red Christmas for retailers — as in red INK!”

donner_froh December 26, 2008 at 12:46 pm

The ink on retailer’s legers is as red as…

Larry Craigs butt after getting locked in a men’s room with Ted Haggard.

David Vitter’s crotch after his hooker forgets the talcum power.

Delicious December 26, 2008 at 12:48 pm

[re=205702]gjdodger[/re]: That’s a lot of sucking.

facehead December 26, 2008 at 12:54 pm

The Headline at Drudge:

EVIL SANTA KILLS 8; BURNS HOUSE.

Kev-O-Tron December 26, 2008 at 12:56 pm

[re=205711]Lascauxcaveman[/re]: Those little helicopters are a gas. I was playing with one all night too! How the hell’s the weather out there? I’m fucking sick of this shit. Seattle and Kitsap are still a mess.

RE: the economy

I’ve been spending my money as fast as I can make it but apparently GDP isn’t effected by the hooker and marijuana industries. Well…I tried.

Lascauxcaveman December 26, 2008 at 2:15 pm

[re=205718]Kev-O-Tron[/re]: Eh, our usual P.A.-> Gig Harbor-> Lake Crescent-> P.A. Xmas commute was easy and uneventful, as the highways are fine. Still can’t get down the driveway to my cave up in the foothills, but it’s a great toboggan run for the kids and me, so – lemonade!

qaf December 26, 2008 at 2:30 pm

[re=205691]NoWireHangers[/re]: Doorbusters? More like TempCrushers.
(Though Cape Clod got there first.)

assistant/atlas December 26, 2008 at 3:38 pm

What did you expect? The handful of remaining employed journalists are phoning it in at this point, just waiting for their lump of coal/pink slip.

Servo December 26, 2008 at 3:52 pm

The national holiday mood is not unlike Dan Aykroyd in ‘Trading Places’, particularly when he’s dressed as Santa, plastered, and eating that whole smoked salmon that gets entangled in his beard.

getoffmylawn December 26, 2008 at 4:07 pm

I could write a book about the sorry state of retail. In fact, I have two chapters already done: Chapter 7 and Chapter 11.

kapish December 26, 2008 at 4:25 pm

Look at it this way: our side is winning.
Christmas will soon be small enough to drown in a bathtub!

chascates December 26, 2008 at 6:26 pm

Half of those journalists will be out of work by this time next year as will 3/4 of the economists. They’re so overqualified for that dead-end temp job I’ll be applying for I’m a cinch to get it.

dougbob December 26, 2008 at 7:55 pm

amazon had record sales. go figure.

Servo December 26, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Zipperupus December 27, 2008 at 3:06 am

Santa is just another word for credit. Jesus is just another word for nothing left to lose.

Sorry Janice: I am stealing your words and your Southern Comfort.

A confession: I took my daughters to a soup kitchen so they could learn the true meaning of Christmas. They knew I was broke. Dad, they said, we ignore bums every year but this one. Well girls, I said, maybe if we help today then someone might help us when we are on the streets.

And that’s when I realized that Bush destroyed Christmas in order to save it.

TGY December 27, 2008 at 9:19 am

God bless us, every one.

nutcracker December 27, 2008 at 12:57 pm

Here’s a fun game to play. Go to your local mall every three or four days and try to guess which store will have gone out of business since the last time you were there. I asked Santa for a job, and he left an employment application for McDonald’s under my tree.

nutcracker December 27, 2008 at 12:59 pm

[re=205867]Zipperupus[/re]: Those words were written by Kris Kristofferson, Janis just croaked them.

MadameDeFarge December 27, 2008 at 7:07 pm

“Old man caught with 9-year-old and sack full of toys at mall, film at 11″

WadISay December 27, 2008 at 7:15 pm

This being a holy time of year, I for one would like to find a Christ-centered analogy. How about, “Christmas sales deader than all the innocents massacred by King Herod”?

S.Luggo December 28, 2008 at 10:28 pm

The blood banks are still open. A liter of plasma will get you a glass of orange juice and a 20 bucks before you pass out. Thus, as Milton Friedman might say, we live in a hobo economy which thrives.

liquiddaddy December 29, 2008 at 1:15 pm

If we’re not cannibalizing each other soon for want of nurishment, the media is really gonna look stupid.

Min December 29, 2008 at 4:39 pm

[re=205909]WadISay[/re]: Or, “Wise men bring fewer gifts this holiday season.”

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