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To: InsureAmerica

"The X 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 its 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 perfectly legitimate abbreviation for the word 'Christmas' (just as 'Xian' is also sometimes used as an abbreviation of the word 'Christian').

None of this means that Christians (and others) aren't 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's a very old artifact of a very different language."

http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/xmasabbr.asp


17 posted on 12/14/2005 3:19:03 PM PST by offtherose
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To: offtherose

Post #18, for your reference. I lived it. No article or historical reference can get closer than that. It is what it is...


19 posted on 12/14/2005 3:22:31 PM PST by InsureAmerica (Evil? I have many words for it. We are as dust, to them. - v v putin)
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To: offtherose

I must also comment that the text of your post, from wherever you copied it, is hogwash. It is disrespectful to some. It is vulgur to some. the rest just doesn;t make any sense, from a logical perspective, letter 'chi' and all. As I wrote before somewhere, too many points to address and not enough time.......


20 posted on 12/14/2005 3:26:47 PM PST by InsureAmerica (Evil? I have many words for it. We are as dust, to them. - v v putin)
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