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Post by Fran Gyomory on Dec 4, 2007 18:49:33 GMT -5
I have to admit this is a sore point for me. I refuse to buy anything that says on sale for Xmas and I am peeved to receive anything that says this.
This is the Christmas Season not the Xmas Season and I personally would really appreciate it if we didn't abbreviate the name but spelled it out fully. I sometimes feel it is an insult to Christians when I see Xmas out in print on sales flyers.
We don't abbreviate Kwanzaa or Hanukkah so why do this wit Christmas?
Just wanted to get that off my chest. Thanks.
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Post by Joan on Dec 5, 2007 9:13:23 GMT -5
I totally agree with you Fran!
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Post by marylou on Dec 5, 2007 10:57:02 GMT -5
Well, I have to say that theoretically and practically, I agree with you both. I never use the term Xmas, either in my Christmas cards or decorations or anything related to Christmas. But I was curious and had no idea where the X-term originated from so I found the following. It's interesting, but still doesn't make me a convert to Xmas.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This 1922 Ladies' Home Journal advertisement uses "Xmas"."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 used but not universally accepted; some view it as demeaning to Christ, whilst others find it a helpful abbreviation.
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"), and are still widely seen in many Eastern Orthodox icons depicting Jesus Christ. The labarum, an amalgamation of the two Greek letters rendered as ☧, is a symbol often used to represent Christ in Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christian Churches.[1]
Some believe that the term is part of an effort to "take Christ out of Christmas" or to literally "cross out Christ";[2] it is also seen as evidence of the secularization of Christmas, as a symptom of the commercialization of the holiday (as the abbreviation has long been used by retailers). It may also be used as a vehicle to be more inclusive (See political correctness).
The labarum, often called the Chi-Rho, is a Christian symbol representing Christ.The occasionally held belief that the "X" represents the cross Christ was crucified on has no basis in fact. 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.[3] 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 arrived in 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"[4] (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, pronounced "eks-mas", is the official name for the day formerly known as Christmas (which has become an "archaic pronunciation").
In Japanese media and goods, Xmas/X-mas is commonly misspelled as "X'mas" in what amounts to an instance of wasei-eigo, or English made in Japan.
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Post by wheezie on Dec 5, 2007 16:52:04 GMT -5
Me, for one, I'm putting up a Christmas tree, even though it's artificial. Under my tree are houses that light, and on top of my entertainment center is an old time village with my little people. My nativity goes on top of the curio cabinet. I have Christmas towels in the kitchen and the bathroom, and a Christmas table cloth on the dining room table. I also have a great fiber optic display with a carousel and a snow scene where the lady and gentleman skate on a mirror representing ice. I have a Santa doll that sings, a lighted reindeer for outside, and Santa in his sleigh for the door. THERE IS NO XMAS HERE, JUST CHRISTMAS.
On Sunday, I'm going to my daughter's Christmas musical in Connecticut. I'm looking forward to seeing it.
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Post by Joan on Dec 5, 2007 16:56:29 GMT -5
:)Sounds good to me Wheezie. You definitely have the Christmas spirit!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2007 19:25:48 GMT -5
For me the only word for me is Christmas.
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