Happy Krimble origin?

December 22, 2003 10:23 AM

What is the origin behind the phrase "Happy Krimble"? It looks like it's an alternate way of saying "Merry Christmas", and the Beatles used it in a recorded message to their fans back in the mid-60's, but I can't find any sort of history behind it.
posted by gnomeloaf to Society & Culture (6 answers total)

Its a Lennon-ism, isn't it? I've never seen it used in a pre-Beatles context....
posted by anastasiav at 10:40 AM on December 22, 2003

That would be my guess too. Lennon thought of himself as a wordsmith and loved to make up nonsense words. You can see this in the lyrics of songs such as 'I am the Walrus'. You might also want to look through his book of nonsense - In his Own Write

"this correction of short writty is the most wonderfoul larf I've ever ready." - Lennon
posted by vacapinta at 11:11 AM on December 22, 2003

It's a bit of a chicken-egg one - I'm from Merseyside, and the only people I know who say 'Happy Krimble' are Baby Boomers of the generation that would've heard the Beatles' message first time around, so it's either been adopted after the message, or was just a bit of 60s slang that didn't stick.

Either way, 'Chrimbo' is the standard abbreviation throughout Merseyside (and the North West generally) so dropping the -o and adding the -le suffix wasn't much of a stretch for Lennon, who fancied himself as a bit of a Spike Milligan-style word-mangler.
posted by jack_mo at 11:14 AM on December 22, 2003

Oh, and some people say 'Hairy Krimble' as well.
posted by jack_mo at 11:17 AM on December 22, 2003

I'm not au fait with the 'krimble thing'. It's not a misheard 'crimbo' is it? (although jack_mo's post implies otherwise) This version is used all over from England to Australia.
posted by wackybrit at 3:02 PM on December 22, 2003

Wackybrit, krimble is used distinctly where I come from near Liverpool. Don't know its age though.
posted by biffa at 4:07 AM on December 23, 2003