Christmas or Xmas

Killaqueen!!!

Where the hell did Xmas come from? There's no X in Christmas. And if you're a Christian, you should call it Christmas. I am officially getting rid of Xmas

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

ps I still haven't a clue what this forum is for. From what I've seen you can post any sort of random crap you like so don't give out to me..

Pigman II

X = cross.

People (family) cooped up together for any extended period of time tend to be at each others throats before long. Cross-mas.

Either that or

X = blank space. Stick your own particular reason for "celebrating, getting drunk, acting like a fool and groping the arse of that girl/guy you like" here.

faceman

good question. one could get easily confused when travelling to Harolds X in dublin. Harold's Christ doesnt have the same ring to it!!

Feral Mutant

This is on snopes.

faceman

Feral Mutant wrote:

This is on snopes.

out with the spoilsport!!!

emeraldstar

i remember my teacher in fifth class telling us using 'xmas' was wrong because it meant you were taking the 'Christ' out of Christmas....

Terry

faceman wrote:

out with the spoilsport!!!

Agreed. I'm banning the next person to link to that uber-nerd site wih all it's crap. made up stories are fun and that's what AH is all about.

as for x-mas, i blame lazy people (read: Americans).
or someone trying not to offend people of other religions (again, read: americans).

EDIT:
Due to someone taking offence at the above statement, i feel obligated to point out that it is tongue in cheek.
this is after hours. deal with it.
i don't go making complaints to television stations every time an Irish man is depicted as a drunk by american tv.
sometimes you just need to let things go.

Catari Jaguar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmas

Kojak

Its Christmas, not bloody Xmas. Xmas is only an American thing so as to make it "non-denominational", but most other faiths call it Christmas anywas so I don't know why Xmas had to be invented.

When I say other faiths call it Christmas, what I mean is they call it Christmas when they are talking about the Christian festival at the end of the year.

Terry

Lil Kitten wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmas

so that everyone doesn't have to click the link:

"Xmas" and "X-mas" are common abbreviations of the word "Christmas". They are sometimes pronounced "eksmas", but they, and variants such as "Xtemass", originated as handwriting abbreviations for the pronunciation "Christmas". The "-mas" part came from the Anglo-Saxon for "festival", "religious event": Crīstesmæsse or Crīstemæsse. This abbreviation is widely but not universally accepted; some view it as demeaning to Christ, whilst others find it a helpful abbreviation.
This 1922 Ladies' Home Journal advertisement uses "Xmas".
Enlarge
This 1922 Ladies' Home Journal advertisement uses "Xmas".

The word "Christ" and its compounds, including "Christmas", have been abbreviated for at least the past 1,000 years, long before the modern "Xmas" was commonly used. "Christ" was often written as "XP" or "Xt"; there are references in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as far back as 1021 AD. This X and P arose as the uppercase forms of the Greek letters χ and ρ), used in ancient abbreviations for Χριστος (Greek for "Christ") (see Labarum), and are still widely seen in many Eastern Orthodox icons depicting Jesus Christ.

Some people believe that the term is part of an effort to "take Christ out of Christmas" or to literally "cross out Christ";[citation needed] it is also seen as evidence of the secularization of Christmas or a vehicle for pushing political correctness, or as a symptom of the commercialization of the holiday (as the abbreviation has long been used by retailers).

The occasionally felt belief that the "X" represents the cross Christ was crucified on has no basis in fact; regardless, St Andrew's Cross is X-shaped, but Christ's cross was probably shaped like a T or a †. Indeed, X-as-chi was associated with Christ long before X-as-cross could be, since the cross as a Christian symbol developed later. (The Greek letter Chi Χ stood for "Christ" in the ancient Greek acrostic ΙΧΘΥΣ ichthys.) While some see the spelling of Christmas as Xmas a threat, others see it as a way to honor the martyrs. The use of X as an abbreviation for "cross" in modern abbreviated writing (e.g. "Kings X" for "Kings Cross") may have reinforced this assumption.

In ancient Christian art χ and χρ are abbreviations for Christ's name.[citation needed] In many manuscripts of the New Testament and icons, X is an abbreviation for Christos, as is XC (the first and last letters in Greek, using the lunate sigma); compare IC for Jesus in Greek. The Oxford English Dictionary documents the use of this abbreviation back to 1551, 50 years before the first English colonists came to North America and 60 years before the King James Version of the Bible was completed. At the same time, Xian and Xianity were in frequent use as abbreviations of "Christian" and "Christianity"; and nowadays still are sometimes so used, but much less than "Xmas". The proper names containing the name "Christ" other than aforementioned are rarely abbreviated in this way (e.g. Hayden Xensen for the actor name "Hayden Christensen"). Pop artist Christina Aguilera is known to spell her first name as 'Xtina'.

This apparent usage of "X" to spell the syllable "kris" (rather than the sounds "ks") has extended to "xtal" for "crystal", and on florists' signs "xant" for "chrysanthemum"[citation needed] (though these words are not etymologically related to "Christ"; "crystal" comes from a Greek word meaning "ice", and "chrysanthemum" from Greek words meaning "golden flower", while "Christ" comes from a Greek word meaning "anointed").

In the animated television show Futurama, which is set in the 31st century, Xmas is the official name for the day formerly known as Christmas (which has become an "archaic pronunciation").

I'll buy that

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

tolosenc

It is in no way an attempt to de-Christian-ise the festival. It is merely an abbreviation. Get over it.

Pigman II

obl wrote:

It is in no way an attempt to de-Christian-ise the festival. It is merely an abbreviation. Get over it.

Exactly. It could just as easily have ended up being called ChristY.

whiskeyman

Happy Holidays / Yuletide / Chrimbo everyone....


Apparently, the Sky (TV) Christmas work party in the UK wasn't called a 'Christmas party', but a 'Winter party' on all emails / promo for it.

Terry

whiskeyman wrote:

Happy Holidays / Yuletide / Chrimbo everyone....


Apparently, the Sky (TV) Christmas work party in the UK wasn't called a 'Christmas party', but a 'Winter party' on all emails / promo for it.

****ing pc madness.
I live in a predominantly christian country, was brough up with christian beliefs and although i no longer believe there is a god, i'll be damned if saomeone is going to stop me calling this time of year by the name i have always known it as. I don't give a flying **** if some liberal wanker wants me to call is something else.t's christmas. it will always be christmas to me no matter what anyone tries to tell me.
listen up, you hippy liberal douches*. the muslims, jews, hindus etc don't give a flying **** if someone wishes them a happy christmas. they accept the fact that this is a predominntly christian country. go get yourself a life and stop trying to instill your beliefs on others. by doing this, you are just as bad as the religious zealouts you despise.









*courtesy of trey parker and matt stone.

:|

julep wrote:

Pop artist Christina Aguilera is known to spell her first name as 'Xtina'.

That's just stupid. She's actually just replacing chris with x.

Dave!

My primary teacher taught us that it takes the Christ out of Christmas.

It doesn't make a difference to me really.

Ruu_Old

Moved from AH.
Its Christmas, not xmas, happy holidays, seasons greetings just to keep other religions happy as was the case in the US for the last few years. Offensive, pah! Christmas ftw!

Terry

hey, i didn't write that. that was quoted from wikipedia. take it up with the chaps wearing bint that she is.

emeraldstar

The Scientist wrote:

christian brothers?
Sounds like some of the tripe that was driven into us...
The power of christ compells you!

Nope, Presentation Sisters