“Ho, ho, ho” from Santa Claus is no longer politically correct, at least according to one company in Australia. Depending on which excuse you believe, it’s either because the fragile children can’t handle loud bellows from Santa, or because the term “ho” is offensive to women:

THERE’LL be no ho, ho, ho this Christmas. Aspiring Santas have been told not to use the term “ho” because it could be seen as derogatory to women.

Thirty trainees at a Santa course in Adelaide last month, held by recruitment company Westaff, were urged to replace the traditional festive greeting with “ha, ha, ha”.

A Santa veteran of 11 years who attended the course told the Sunday Mail the trainer was very clear in spelling out no to “ho”.

Two Santa hopefuls reportedly left the course after the trainer’s edict.

The term “ho” is also American slang for a prostitute. “We were told it (ho) was a derogatory term for females and can upset people,” said the Santa, who did not want to be identified publicly.

[...]

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 - but he said it wasn’t for fear of offending women.

“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’.”

Whatever the excuse, it still seems lame.