Viewers of Santa Clause are only now beginning to understand why the title of the film is spelled that way.
When it comes to naming the fabled naughty or good judge, there are several options.
While the majority refer to him as Santa Claus, some choose to name him Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, or just St Nick.
However, there is significant disagreement over whether Santa’s last name should have a ‘e’ at the end or not.
Believe it or not, the 1994 Tim Allen movie The Santa Clause was the first to make the word “Clause” with a “e” popular.
Additionally, it appears to be a purposeful misspelling of Santa Claus as well as a word play.
The moniker Father Christmas is spelled Sinter Klaas in Dutch, hence the conventional spelling of Claus (yes, without the ‘e’).
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Things changed, though, when Allen played Scott Calvin, a father who unwittingly causes Santa to fall off his roof on Christmas Eve, in the holiday-themed Disney movie.
When Scott assumes the role of the big man and dons the fabled red suit, he commits to a “clause,” which is similar to a legal agreement.
And it’s fair to say that this has people’s brains blown.
Fans of the movie have expressed their surprise at this grammatical error on Twitter.
One person wrote: “Still trying to accept the fact that I’ve been unironically spelling it Santa ‘Clause’ like the 1994 movie starring Tim Allen.
“Not realising it was a play on words for like my whole entire life. Merry Christmas.”
Another said: “When I was a kid I had no idea why they called it The Santa Clause.
“I had no idea what a ‘clause’ was, I just thought they deliberately spelt ‘Claus’ wrong for some reason.”
A third noted: “The Santa Claus has brought a lot of joy to folks since 1994, but it has also raised a generation of adults who don’t know how to spell Santa’s name properly.
“The proper spelling is Santa C-L-A-U-S.”
Don’t beat yourself up if you’ve been doing this error.
Even an English teacher was duped for years by the movie’s title.
They wrote: “The movie The Santa Clause has permanently ruined my spelling of Santa Claus.
“I didn’t know it didn’t have an ‘e’ at the end until last year.
“I’M AN ENGLISH TEACHER.”
Another person said: “Annual spelling reminder…
“Santa Claus is the name of the guy.
“Santa Clause is the name of the movie starring Tim Allen.”
“I wish that movie The Santa Clause never came out because it has f***ed with my spelling for 30+ years. Thanks, Tim Allen.”
Well now you know, it’s Claus – without the ‘e’.
