It began 70 years ago when a five-year-old called a top-secret emergency line reserved for the U.S. president and four-star generals and asked, “Hello, is this Santa?”

It was December 1955 — the height of the Cold War. The phone that rang was big and red, only to be used during an international emergency.

That wrong number — and many others that followed because of a simple typo in a newspaper ad — ended up launching a mission like none other for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD: to develop a tracking system allowing families to follow Santa’s journey around the world.

Since then, the Santa Tracker has become a source of joy for millions of children.

  • Lumidaub@feddit.orgEnglish
    0·
    23 days ago

    I don’t get it. The kid called the wrong number - and that’s why that tracking thing exists. Huh?

    What exactly are they “tracking” anyway?

    Edit: in case you decide to continue reading this trainwreck, I only ask this one courtesy of you: be aware that my issue is with the translation and nothing else, least of all the tracker itself. Cheers.

    Personal gripe: Looking at the actual tracker page noradsanta.org, I thought it was a funny idea to translate this very USian thing into other languages without, apparently, accounting for local traditions. It says, for example, that in most countries Santa Claus only comes when children sleep, between 9pm and midnight on 24th Dec. That’s not true for German traditions: we get our presents in the evening on Christmas Eve. He also doesn’t come down any chimneys. (In some places there isn’t even a “Santa Claus” who brings the presents but a kind of angel child figure vaguely associated with Jesus.)

    Yes, it says “most countries” but the cynic in me can only see this as a kind of cultural imperialism where the US/Anglosphere tradition is given priority over any local one. I don’t even celebrate and I’m still annoyed…

    (The translation is wonky in places too (“Jetzt kannst du mit dem Verfolgen des Weihnachtsmannes beginnen”), even ignoring the content not being localised, but oh well.)

    • AbidanYre@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      24 days ago

      Yes, it says “most countries” but the cynic in me can only see this as a kind of cultural imperialism where the US/Anglosphere tradition is given priority over any local one. I don’t even celebrate and I’m still annoyed…

      You’re upset because a PR site from an organization run by a branch of the US military is US centric? Get a grip dude. There are plenty of reasons to hate the US, but this really isn’t one of them.

      • Lumidaub@feddit.orgEnglish
        0·
        24 days ago

        I’m talking specifically about the translation. Are you saying the German and other versions are meant for a US audience?

    • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      0·
      24 days ago

      I don’t get it. The kid called the wrong number - and that’s why that tracking thing exists. Huh?

      Somebody should write an article about it.