People are only just realising what ‘trimming’ the Christmas tree means – and it’s probably not what you think either
HAVE you ever heard people talk about trimming their Christmas tree?
Well it turns out loads of people didn’t know what it actually means and the answer is blowing people’s minds.
This comes after one woman confessed to getting the meaning behind the phrase totally wrong.
Molly Tolsky wrote on Twitter: “PSA to my Jews who didn’t grow up celebrating Christmas: ‘Trimming the tree’ does not mean giving the Christmas tree a little haircut please learn from my mistake.”
But it turns out Molly wasn’t the only person who had no idea what the phrase really means.
If you think ‘trimming the tree’ means literally chopping the branches, you’re not alone.
The phrase actually refers to decorating the tree, not cutting it.
To ‘trim’ your Christmas tree is to add all the trimmings, like baubles, ribbon and lights.
People were totally baffled by the true meaning of the phrase and couldn’t believe they’d got it wrong for so long.
One person wrote: “Wait I grew up in an interfaith household and even I thought it meant tiny haircut!!!”
A second said: “Lol, I grew up mostly celebrating Christmas and did not know this.”
Someone else admitted: “Only learned this a few years ago and still find it confusing.”
Some people thought the phrase did mean literally cutting the tree, but it evolved as more people opted for artificial ones instead.
They said: “They said: “I’m pretty sure the term came about because when you buy a real tree you *do* trim it, and *then* you decorate it, so the decorations become called “trimmings.”
Meanwhile, another person thought the phrase might come from the decorative trim on fabrics like cushions.