We say Merry Christmas, can we say Merry New Year?


The answer is yes, we can but there is no point in doing so since no one else does. and even if we decided to go and say: "Merry New Year!" the response we would get is an expression of ssurprise on the face of our interlocutor like saying "What?"
Let's begin by saying that for all celebrations we only use the word Happy. We say Happy Easter, Happy Halloween, Happy Birthday and so on. The only time when we use the word Merry before a holiday is when we say "Merry Christmas!"
Some people say "it doesn't sound right to say Merry New Year". Curiously enough it is ok to say "Happy Christmas!" (at least in England) but only if you are going to wish a happy Christmas and leave New Year's Eve for a later occassion (provided that you are going to meet that person again before New Year's and after Christmas).
Perhaps it is the proximity in between both holidays what causes all this problem. Our necessity to wish the best to our family and friends for those holidays force us to mention them together in case we don't see any of them again.
Still saying: "Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year!" doesn't sound so elegant: one "happy" has to go. Happy and Merry mean the same so it is logical to use Merry as an alternative for Happy but then, why not "Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year?" It seems that Merry means "experiencing joy" but in a shorter term than Happy, therefore, it makes sense to say "Merry Christmas" because it is only one day after all whereas a year contains 365 days (definitely longer than only one day). Thus that is why we say  "Happy New Year!". 
In the end, it is the common people, and not a bunch of intellectuals, who decide what to say and how to say it. The others, whether they like it or not, eventually have to give in and accept. That is how in general a language grows.   

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