The flap over Megyn Kelly declaring both Santa Claus and Jesus white has made its way through Colbert Nation and the Daily Show so what more need be said?

Well, thanks to Commonweal reader, Julian Irias, there is one more thing to say: Kelly should have used the correct word, "albification," meaning--well you Latin scholars will know. If she had, no one would have known what she was talking about.

From Websters' unabridged: Albification
Al`bi*fi*ca"tion\, n. [Cf. F. albification: L. albus white + ficare (onlyin comp.), facere, to make.] The act or process of making white.[Obs.]
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

As Mr. Irias observes, the obsolesence was a bit premature. Thank you Mr. Irias.

Now we can all dream of the albification of Christmas.

Margaret O’Brien Steinfels is a former editor of Commonweal. 

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