When I got to the cashier after standing in the line at the grocery store on Wednesday, November 21, the clerk wished me a “happy holiday.” I was buying a turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, peas, cheese and crackers, and deserts—pretty obviously a Thanksgiving meal. So I wondered, “Why not just wish me a “happy Thanksgiving”? Did she think she might offend me? What generic holiday did she think I was celebrating?

In recent years, greetings on New Year’s, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas have all been covered by the generic phrase “happy holiday.” Does that imply simply a day off from work or a commemoration of an event or a tradition?

The grocery store employee and I might both be working, but the day would still be a holiday—and, presumably that means something. The woman behind the register in the grocery store may not have known that I am an American citizen, but she surely knew that I live in America. The only national celebration that week was Thanksgiving. Perhaps not all Americans celebrate the traditional turkey dinner and with family (though judging by the lines at the grocery store, it seems everyone does). But all Americans know that it is Thanksgiving, and most know something of its origins with Pilgrims and Indians. So why not say “Happy Thanksgiving?” Who would she offend?

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