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The Philosopher's Shirt

Merry Crisis

A single altered letter turns the standard greeting into an accurate weather report for most people's December. No further commentary required.

Two words that do the work of an entire complaint. The full range, in every format we make it in, all printed to order as you buy it. A Christmas gift for dark humor fans. Season's greetings, adjusted for reality.

Questions about this design

What does the Merry Crisis ugly Christmas sweater design show?
A classic knit-look Christmas pattern – rows of little fir trees, red and white borders and a sprig of holly – framing the words Merry Crisis in festive script. From across the room it reads as Merry Christmas; one letter later it is the honest version of the season.
Where does Merry Crisis and a Happy New Fear come from?
The phrase spread as graffiti in Athens during the unrest of December 2008, in the first winter of the global financial crisis, and was later photographed and shared all over the world. It turns the holiday greeting into a deadpan comment on economic anxiety, which is why it still resonates every December.
Where does the ugly Christmas sweater tradition come from?
Novelty Christmas jumpers with reindeer, snowflakes and bells were sincere fashion in the 1980s. In the early 2000s people began wearing them ironically, and ugly sweater parties spread across North America and Britain. Today the deliberately tacky sweater is a December ritual for office parties and Secret Santa.
What does the word crisis originally mean?
It comes from the Greek krisis, from krinein, to separate or decide. It meant a judgement or decision, and in Hippocratic medicine the turning point of an illness, when the patient either recovers or gets worse. So a crisis is not just a disaster but the moment when things must go one way or the other.
Does the Chinese word for crisis mean danger plus opportunity?
Not really. The word wēijī (危机) does combine wēi, danger, with jī, but in this compound jī means something like a crucial point or incipient moment, not an opportunity. The linguist Victor Mair has called the popular danger-plus-opportunity reading a widespread misunderstanding, however inspiring it sounds in motivational speeches.
What is an existential crisis?
A period in which a person seriously questions whether their life has meaning, purpose or value, often triggered by loss, a big decision or an awareness of death. The term draws on existentialist philosophy – Kierkegaard, Sartre, Camus – which holds that meaning is not given in advance but has to be chosen and lived.
What did Kierkegaard mean by anxiety is the dizziness of freedom?
In The Concept of Anxiety (1844) Søren Kierkegaard distinguishes fear, which has a definite object, from anxiety, which faces nothing in particular but the open possibility of our own choices. Like looking down from a height, realising that we are free to do anything makes us dizzy. For Kierkegaard this anxiety is not a disorder but part of being a self.
Who is the Merry Crisis ugly Christmas sweater a good gift for?
For anyone who finds December more stressful than magical – philosophy students, overworked colleagues, the friend who reads the news over the holidays. It works for office parties and Secret Santa. The design is available as a sweatshirt, premium hoodie, classic t-shirt, mug, beanie hat and snapback cap.