In Sydney, Australia, those who don Santa costumes were told they couldn’t use St. Nick’s traditional “ho ho ho” greeting because it may be offensive to women. Instead the Father Christmases from Down Under were instructed to say “ha ha ha,” the Daily Telegraph reported. One disgruntled Santa told the newspaper a recruitment firm warned him not to use “ho ho ho” because it could frighten children and was too close phonetically to the American slang term for a prostitute.

“Gimme a break,” said Julie Gale, who runs an Australian campaign against sexualizing children called Kids Free 2B Kids. “We are talking about little kids who do not understand that ‘ho, ho, ho’ has any other connotation, and nor should they. Leave Santa alone.”