General Chat

i know some people think calling it xmas is wrong. according to a mag i read this month though, greek for christ is actually X or close to it so its not non-christian. what dya think?

I will still use both

not really religious, so it dont really bother me hun xx

Hi Paul I have never liked the shortening to Xmas, but that is probably purely personal or learnt from my Mother who actually did think it was wrong to 'take the christ out of christmas'. In these days of texts and shortening everything I don't see any reason to worry about it really. Ann Glos

Not wrong - a personal preference, I believe. My sister told me she didn't like Christmas shortened to Xmas. I think of it as X (Christ) being in Xmas. :) Joy

some people think it was originally used as a way of denigrating the christian festival. That "Christmas" in its whole truly represented the celebration of the birth of Christ By replacing the word Christ with a X its a sneaky way of saying the celebration is for the cross and therefore the death of Christ Personally I think if you're in a hurry and wanna write xmas then so be it - I doubt many people read it as Ex Mass or Cross Mass but still automatically read it as Christmas so its fine

The Greek letter X (chi, pronounced "ky") has been used as an abbreviation for "Christ" since Roman times.

how about crimbo paul.a proper crimbo (bo selecta)xxxxxx(:

personally i'm not keen on xmas. not for religious reasons or anything coz i call it crimble! ha ha x

to be honest...when i talk i say christams, in texts or on here i just use xmas, and only cos its quicker! xx

I prefer Christmas. Xmas is certainly much better than Chrimbo! Anyway, X in Greek is Ch for us. So Christos is Christ.

As writers of parish registers abbreviate Christopher to Xopher, xmas can hardly be regarded as unchristian (or should that be unxian?) I'll continue to use Xmas as I'm lazy. As it's the season of goodwill, I'd try not to use it to anyone offended by it, unless they've really wound me up! Brenda

I have seen Christopher spelt as Xpher in Parish registers, so it would seem to be acceptable. But what about Crimbo?

what rhubarb and crimblexxxxxxxxxxxx(:

As there seems to be very little relationship with Christmas/Xmas (or what ever you like to call it) to any form of religion these days I don't think it matters what it's called. How about "Santa Day"! Martin

Yes, I don't like the word Xmas, it seems almost pagen. Christmas is only five more letters. Jo.

I agree with Steph, Christmas when speaking or writing but Xmas for texting.

Xmas always seems a lazy way of writing Christmas. Having said that, I often find myself doing the "X" thing and wish I didn't. Guess I am lazy! LOL

XMAS - This popular abbreviation is a combination of X, the first letter of the Greek name for Christ (transliterated into the Roman alphabet as Khristos), and mas, a shortened form of the word mass. Thus, Xmas literally means "the mass of Christ". While the word Christmas can be traced to 1038, the shortened version has been in use only since the 14th century. Some people object to the abbreviation because they feel Christ's full name should be attached to the holiday celebration of his birth. The first two Greek letters in Khristos (chi and rho) can be written as XP, and are often used as a symbol or emblem for Christ. Now you know - but here's something WINDOWS XP is on most new computers so I wonder if Bill Gates is a Christian by showing the symbol for Christ so the world can see?