In Every Sense of the Word

Of late, the word "celebrate" has caused some consternation among the anti-Leicester brigade.  They looked for something to be offended by, found it, & acted accordingly. Knee-jerk reaction letters to the editor & rants on social media immediately appeared. 

It seems to me that the blood pressures (& reputations) of these folks would have been better served had they just taken the time to crack open a dictionary or, in case dictionaries are extinct in the U.K., conduct a search on Google & they would have instantly seen that "celebrate" has many meanings. Here's what I found (in 0.35 seconds):

cel·e·brate

ˈseləˌbrāt/

verb

1. 1.

   publicly acknowledge (a significant or happy day or event) with a social gathering or enjoyable activity.

   "they were celebrating their wedding anniversary at a restaurant"

   synonyms:

   commemorate, observe, mark, keep, honor, remember, memorialize "they were celebrating their wedding anniversary"
2. 2.

   perform (a religious ceremony) publicly and duly, in particular officiate at (the Eucharist).

   "he celebrated holy communion"

Oops.

Make no mistake, there will be celebrations in every sense of the word in Leicester next March.  It will be the largest gathering of Ricardians in history, past & future, after all.  Outside of the various religious ceremonies, people are bound to meet up in bars & restaurants, bend a few elbows, crack a some jokes, in short do what ever like-minded humans do whenever they gather in large numbers.

But just because we may be smiling & laughing from time to time does not mean we will be acting like that when any of the religious ceremonies is celebrated.   Those will be solemn occasions & of course we will act accordingly.