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IT’S A DEBATE that can tell a lot about who you are: did you call Santa Claus “Santy” or “Santa”?

In previous years, the debate has raged every Christmas around Ireland.

A very scientific poll last year seemed to indicate that Santy was the clear Irish winner

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So perhaps it’s time we just embraced this fact

A map shared by snug12 on Reddit Ireland has blown this debate wide open again this morning.

It seems to claim that “Santy” is exclusive to Cork

But the response was clear: he is SANTY everywhere

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It’s a point of principle for Irish people

Santy is *our* thing.

But we can’t deny the divide – that there’s a sizable portion of Irish people that always called him “Santa”.

It even makes an appearance in some popular *American* Christmas classics

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But that’s an outlier.

The IrishAmericanMom blog noted this crucial cultural difference between the two nations:

I have no idea why Father Christmas was usually called Santy when I was growing up in Ireland.  On films and American television we heard the term Santa, but in our Irish family the white bearded giver was always Santy.

We seldom even added his last name “Claus”. We were all on first name terms with our beloved Santy.

And this is potentially the crux of it: “Santa” could be the American term that we’ve taken on thanks to films and songs

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It’s the modern world we live in

But this Christmas, as it’s a unique term to this fine country, perhaps we might take on Santy as the official informal name for Daidí na Nollag for one year only

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And then the debates will be over, and the night will be silent.

As everyone waits for Santy.

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