XMAS abbreviation. PLEASE READ! The 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 the 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 a perfectly legitimate abbreviation for the word Christmas (just as Xian is also sometimes used as an abbreviation for the word Christian) None of this means that Christians (and others) arent 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 is a very old artifact of a very different language. (Now, while this can be found in many other places, the info above I got from Snopes. Does this mean I would buy anything PRINTED with Xmas instead of Christmas? No. I wont even buy Happy Holiday or Seasons Greetings cards. I will, however, continue to use the abbreviation where space is short or Im in a real rush. I wont sign Merry Xmas on my cards, either. :-) )
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 18:04:32 +0000
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