Writing as X mas

[ancymary]

Is writing Xmas instead of Christmas wrong? Nowadays WhatsApp is spreading as writing X mas is wrong because we are replacing our Christ with x . X means unknown. But in one of my catholic group, a reply msg got as she confirmed with a parish priest that this is a wrong msg. so is it OK to write as x mas?

 

[ILoveYeshua]

“X” is the first letter of the word “ХРИСТОС” (Christ) and so “Xmas” is simply shorthand for “Christmas”. It’s fine to use

 

[Tis_Bearself]

There’s no moral problem with it. However, some people do have a strong preference about not using “Xmas” as opposed to Christmas.

I’ve run into some Catholics or other Christians, including in my own family, who object to the “X” because they prefer to write out the term “Christ” and see the use of “Xmas” as “taking the Christ out of Christmas”. Not everyone in society is familiar with the Greek letter meaning of the term, and even those who have heard the explanation sometimes see this as a minimization or avoidance of Christ’s name and hence disrespectful to Him. If I tried to write “Merry Xmas” on a card as a child, having heard the explanation at school or wherever, my mother would respond with something like, “Yes, well, we’re not Greek and we don’t abbreviate Christ’s name on His holiday, so write out the word Christ.”

 

[Titivillus]

You should encourage such people to go on a crusade against church properties decorated with “ihc”, “ihs”, “𐆠”, and “☧” – They are all Greek too, and much more common. Maybe then they will be too busy to worry about Xmas.

Me? I'm gonna go eat a gyro.​

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Well, my mom is dead so I won’t be “encouraging” her to do anything at this point.
It may not be a moral issue (as in, it’s not a sin to write “Xmas”), but people are allowed to have preferences about things they care about, such as the Holy Name of Jesus Christ.

And as the OP said, some priests would rather see you write out “Christmas” so I’m certainly not going to be telling a priest that he’s wrong on this matter because his church has an IHS in the architecture somewhere.

I think back in the 60s and 70s, some greeting card companies pushed the “Merry Xmas” as a “less religious” type greeting, sort of like how they now use “Happy Holidays”, and that may have caused some of the prejudice against it.

 

[Titivillus]

With due respect to everyone’s mothers, living and deceased, the very existence of a preference (strong or otherwise) admits of alternate preferences which may be legitimately held by others.
I wouldn’t go out of my way to antagonize your, my, nor anyone’s mother, but likewise she may not enforce her preference upon me.
For instance
My mother was once upon a time an EMHC, and she admitted to me that she thought it was “gross” when people received on the tongue. I told her that if administering the sacrament in a manner which may be legitimately chosen by the recipient disturbs her, perhaps she should rethink her participation in that ministry.

 

[RandomAlias]

I think this explains well the origin and usage of Xmas:

from Merriam-Webster dictionaries – Christmas vs. Xmas

 

[TheLittleLady]

When I was a kid (before the earth cooled), we were told Xmas was a way to take Christ out of Christmas. Think of it as a Starbucks Cup and the phrase “Happy Holidays” combined.

None of these things are the anti-Christ.

Xmas is explained by @ILoveYeshua
Starbucks is simply overpriced, overroasted coffee
Holidays is shorthand for Holy Days

 

[1ke]

Is writing Xmas instead of Christmas wrong?

No.

Do you know what the “X” symbol is? It is the Greek letter Chi. The Chi and Rho symbols together are commonly used as symbols for Christ. The “X” in Xmas is the Chi, a shorthand for Christ.

Nowadays WhatsApp is spreading as writing X mas is wrong because we are replacing our Christ with x .

Well WhatsApp isn’t a great source of Catholic Theology.

X means unknown.

In mathematics, yes it can stand for an unknown.

But again, the X in Xmas is the Greek letter Chi, not the letter x.

Ignorance abounds.