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RonCalhoun Special user Independence, KY USA 599 Posts |
Merry Xmas - What does the X mean?
Sometimes you will see this Christmas greeting
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Satori New user Panama City, FL USA 61 Posts |
I have come to the conclusion that it stands for CROSS. Thereby Jesus by reference. So it becomes shorthand for CHRISTmas.
If there is another origin on this I havent heard of it. S. |
DVA Regular user 142 Posts |
Actually it come from the greek spelling of Christ.
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dpe666 Inner circle 2895 Posts |
The X abbreviation of 'Xmas' for 'Christmas' is neither modern nor disrespectful. The notion that it is a new and vulgar representation of the word 'Christmas' seems to stem from the erroneous belief that the letter 'X' is used to stand for the word 'Christ' because of its resemblance to a cross, or that the abbreviation was deliberately concocted "to take the 'Christ' out of Christmas." Actually, this usage is nearly as old as Christianity itself, and its origins lie in the fact that the first letter in the Greek word for 'Christ' is 'chi,' and the Greek letter 'chi' is represented by a symbol similar to the letter 'X' in the modern Roman alphabet. Hence 'Xmas' is indeed perfectly legitimate abbreviation for the word 'Christmas' (just as 'Xian' is also sometimes used as an abbreviation of the word 'Christian').
None of this means that Christians (and others) aren't justified in feeling slighted when people write 'Xmas' rather than 'Christmas,' but the point is that the abbreviation was not created specifically for the purpose of demeaning Christ, Christians, Christianity, or Christmas -- it's a very old artifact of a very different language. |
redstreak Inner circle A.K.A David Kong 1368 Posts |
Thanks for the info, dpe666. I should have seen that myself.
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tuffnavyrn Inner circle San Diego, CA 1238 Posts |
Very nice dpe666
Brian-
"That smart thing that somebody else said". |
CamelotFX Special user Minnesota 596 Posts |
As a Greek speaker, I have always seen "Xmas" as an unnecessary and unnatural mixing of languages, sort of like "sushi-o-rama." The Greek word for Christmas is "Christouyenna" (with a "X") so the proper abbreviation should be "Xyenna."
Etsi einai. Oh, Kala Christouyenna everyone! |
vinsmagic Eternal Order sleeping with the fishes... 10957 Posts |
Santa did not know how to write his name so he signed the cards with a X
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GypsyPirate Regular user 110 Posts |
I don't like when people use "xmas" because to me it seems like they are crossing out the most important part or CHRISTmas.
Magic Mark
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Dr_Stephen_Midnight Inner circle SW Ohio, USA 1555 Posts |
I think nitpicking trivialities bothers me a lot more.
Steve
Dr. Lao: "Do you know what wisdom is?"
Mike: "No." Dr. Lao: "Wise answer." |
scott b. Special user 732 Posts |
Quote:
On 2004-12-28 14:45, GypsyPirate wrote: I had always thought the same thing, but after reading that greek stuff above it seems they are not crossing it out, more of substituting Christ for Christ.
Thanks! Scott B.
"I don't know the key to success . . . but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." - Bill Cosby |
irossall Special user Snohomish, Washington 529 Posts |
Quote:
On 2004-12-28 20:29, scott b. wrote: I think many people (and I was one of them) don't know that the X was a symbol of Christ and for those people I think it is laziness or disrespectful to use the X. For that reason I have never used the X but chose to spell it out entirely. Iven
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magicgeorge Inner circle Belfast 4299 Posts |
Quote:
On 2004-12-26 00:42, dpe666 wrote: Chi can also be spelled qi. Which is a very useful piece of information to anyone who plays scrabble. |
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