11th Nov:
Recruitment firm Westaff, which supplies hundreds of Santas around the country, yesterday confirmed the edict.
Westaff national operations manager Glen Jansz said the company's Santas had been urged to tone down their use of the "ho, ho, ho" phrase.
"The reason behind that is we find that in some cases the little kids can get a little bit scared of the deep 'ho, ho, hos' and we ask them to be mindful of keeping their voices to a lower level," he said.
"And kids are probably more inclined to understand 'ha, ha, ha', than 'ho, ho, ho'."
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22736835-662,00.html12th Nov:
Recruitment agent Westaff hit headlines in Australia after claims that Santa trainees had been told to replace their "ho, ho, hos" with "ha, ha, ha" as it might scare children and offend women.
Westaff Australia's national manager Glen Jansz told Adelaide's Sunday Mail claims there were concerns the term "ho" could be offensive were false but confirmed the edict had been issued.
"The reason behind that is we find that in some cases the little kids can get a little bit scared of the deep `ho, ho, hos' and we ask them to be mindful of keeping their voices to a lower level," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=1047574715th Nov: (Murdoch newspaper)
Recruitment firm Westaff - which supplies hundreds of Santas across the country - has told its trainees that the "ho ho ho" phrase could frighten children and could even be derogatory to women.
Two Santa hopefuls reportedly quit the course because of the hullabaloo of the ho, ho, ho.
One would-be Santa has told The Daily Telegraph he was taught not to use "ho, ho, ho" because it was too close to the American slang for prostitute. He also quit.
...
"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. We wish you and your family a very merry Christmas."
Westaff national operations manager Greg Jansz said it was "misleading" to say the company had banned Santa's traditional greeting and it was being left up to the discretion of Santa himself.
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22759570-5001021,00.html?from=mostpopSo, yes, I think it's a Murdoch-produced hoax. An anonymous "would-be Santa" claims it. The named people say it's a question of the impression on a child, and not a 'ban'. I know which one I trust.
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