Nothing cheeses me off more than calling Christmas Xmas. OK, I bet there ARE things that cheese me more, but what the hell is an X? Is it Crossmas? How do you all feel? I understand at some points typing a shortcut, but TV adds, cards, etc all cut it, for no good reason. They have to produce it once, and it gets REproduced after that. Not a lot of effort there.

<font color="#ff6666">Binks dude! some people dont like to use the word Christ and others are just lazy [img]smile.gif[/img] </font>

The X is the visual representation of the Greek letter Chi. Chi Ro are the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek. You come across them a lot in medieval manuscripts.

Maybe the "X" in Crossmas, as you put it, represents the cross Jesus was crucified upon. The religious foundation is still there if you look at it that way.

WRONG, Ace! Go stand in the corner!
*stands in the corner*

[ 11-21-2002, 11:20 AM: Message edited by: Ace of Spades ]

Melusine, you got it right! And you stole my thunder! The ancient Church did this a great deal with an air of reverance.

realbinky, thanks! It's a pet peeve of mine too! My parish priest is frequently saying, "Let's put Christ back in Christmas"....who wants to celebrate 'exmas' anyway? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

MagiK, if 'Christ' is a word someone avoids, they probably don't celebrate that holiday! I'm sure there are many other holidays they can do things with!

Not to mention when typing in forums, it's easier. ;) Melusine is absolutely correct about the "X" representing the Greek letter "Chi". In ancient times, the early Christians would mark an X (Chi) to designate who they were to avoid being persecuted by the Romans. This is also how the "Fish" symbol came to be: if two people met and wanted to determine if the other was Christian, one would draw the top half of the fish in the sand. If the other person completed the drawing, they would recognize each other as Christian. Such things had to be done secretly, since back then Christianity was outlawed.

There is certainly no shame nor disrespect in using the "X" in place of "Christ" in Christmas.

-Sazerac

P.S. Sorry, Cloudy, but here I do disagree with you. Respectfully, of course, m'dear. ;)

[ 11-21-2002, 11:06 AM: Message edited by: Sazerac ]

Ahem.... errr see my post above...

Although I agree most people abbreviating it don't know about it...

Albromor, cheers! And sorry for 'stealing your thunder' :D ;)

Thanks Saz!! Didn't want to be a pedant and type it all out, but if we fill in each other's gaps maybe we can get away with simply appearing very educated ;) :D
(removes tongue from cheek and wanders out of topic) ;)

Sorry if I have made you mad,Realbinky,but sometimes I am just too lazy to write so long ( :D ) words.
[img]graemlins/santawave.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/xmas2.gif[/img]