Whiteisms
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Etymology Journal ยท S

Slow as Christmas

Meaning

Used to describe something that seems to take an eternity to arrive or finish. It highlights the agonizing wait for a specific, anticipated event.

Impatient, resigned

Used in a sentence

  • The service at this restaurant is as slow as Christmas.
  • Why is this computer update running as slow as Christmas?
  • We have been sitting in traffic for an hour, and it is as slow as Christmas.

The backstory

The phrase suggests the long, slow anticipation children feel in the weeks leading up to the holiday. It has been used throughout the American South for generations.

Heard in

The South

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