X'Mas

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last year, one of my RCiA teacher told us that why people using Xmas instead of Christmas??. when Jesus Christ turn to Mr X??? and she said don’t write Xmas… actually what she told us is wrong… X refer to Christ in Greek or Eastern Church… but recently i saw her, and she told me X’mas is correct that is nothing wrong to write X’mas…
maybe our RCiA team is not well prepare… send wrong info to people luck i search the net… but i didn’t blame her bcos she is human too… rite…

NATALE HILARE ET ANNUM NUOVO…👍
YESUS TI AMO…
 
It seem a quite common thing among people that handwrite papers on theology to abbreviate the words containing the root “Christ” into a cross and the rest of the word.
 
The X is the first letter of XPICTOC, the spelling of Christ in Greek.

It’s used in such forms as Xn, Xnity, and there’s nothing inherently disrespectful about it.

Deal.
 
When my Dad was young a very good Nun who was his teacher criticized that term “Xmas” because as she put it, it took Christ out of Christmas.

Now while X may mean Christ in Greek, we AREN’T nor do we speak Greek. Furthermore if you look at this “Xmas” from a math point of view it would substantiate what the Nun was saying. In Algebra (Math) X is a common letter for algebraic formulas where X could represent any number. One could easily look at “Xmas” and reasonably infer that we should make Christmas into whatever we want to make of it. Not necessarily the Birth of our God.
 
childofmary1143 said:
When my Dad was young a very good Nun who was his teacher criticized that term “Xmas” because as she put it, it took Christ out of Christmas.

Now while X may mean Christ in Greek, we AREN’T nor do we speak Greek. Furthermore if you look at this “Xmas” from a math point of view it would substantiate what the Nun was saying. In Algebra (Math) X is a common letter for algebraic formulas where X could represent any number. One could easily look at “Xmas” and reasonably infer that we should make Christmas into whatever we want to make of it. Not necessarily the Birth of our God.
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Nonetheless, the “X” does indeed mean “Christ”. Perhaps the good nun was unaware of this. I don’t think most folks are looking at “Xmas” from a math point of view.

While most of us may not be Greek, don’t forget “Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison.” Use of Greek in a religious or liturgical sense is not unusual. (We’re not ancient Romans, either, but there is that Latin thing…)
 
While “xmas” may be alright as an abbreviation for Christmas I’m sure quite a few people read it as “Ex-mas”. I know that I do.

Catholig
 
When we see Xmas, we should try to think Christ (we can’t be sure that the person who wrote it was really thinking of Christ).

When we’re about to write Xmas, for people who may not know the Christian significance of “X”, we might want to write Christmas instead.

When we write Xmas for ourselves (e.g. to label a box) we might want to be sure we often think of Christ - so often we write Xmas only because it is easier and fits on the box!

…Come to think of it, maybe Xmas sometimes makes me think of Christ, because what (seems to be) missing really stands out! How sad it is that I so often forget to think Christ, even when I see or hear “Christmas”.
 
dixieagle said:
Nonetheless, the “X” does indeed mean “Christ”. Perhaps the good nun was unaware of this. I don’t think most folks are looking at “Xmas” from a math point of view.

While most of us may not be Greek, don’t forget “Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison.” Use of Greek in a religious or liturgical sense is not unusual. (We’re not ancient Romans, either, but there is that Latin thing…)
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i agree “Xmas” cannot looking from a math point of view. from my point of view the good nun is simply unaware of it…

“Amen” is a Latin word right???
 
Xmas is more agreeable to the world, therefore it should be avoided. What’s wrong with CHRISTmas; it’s almost like substituting “Merry Christmas” for “Happy Holidays.” We live in the days where we need to speak up for our God.
 
jedi said:
i agree “Xmas” cannot looking from a math point of view. from my point of view the good nun is simply unaware of it…

“Amen” is a Latin word right???
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Hebrew actually. It means “let it be so” or, as they say on Battlestar Galactica, “so say we all.” 🙂
 
LCMS_No_More said:
Hebrew actually. It means “let it be so” or, as they say on Battlestar Galactica, “so say we all.” 🙂
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It seems to have been a loan word from Egyptian, and is an element in Tutankhamen’s name.
We don’t know exactly what it meant.
 
childofmary1143 said:
I thought X meant Christ? Christouyenna has no X’s in it.
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the X in Greek is a soft “k” sound. the sound is analogous to clearing phlegm from the soft palate. ( or think of the Yiddish pronunciation of “Challah” bread. We do not have this sound in english.

as adding an h to an s to make it sound ssshhhhhhhhhhhh.
 
hey maurin,

I hadn’t seen you for a while. Glad you’re still hanging around here.

W
 
latinmasslover said:
Xmas is more agreeable to the world, therefore it should be avoided. What’s wrong with CHRISTmas; it’s almost like substituting “Merry Christmas” for “Happy Holidays.” We live in the days where we need to speak up for our God.
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Absolutely.

People can go through all sorts of mental gymnastics coming up with a justifiable use of X-Mas, but I doubt that crosses and the greek alphabet are what the majority of the people out there are thinking of when they use the term.

It’s like renaming “Common Era” as “Christian Era” so that we can feel better about ourselves and ignore the attacks on our Faith.
 
:twocents: from two years ago 😉
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tee_eff_em:
👋

(Qualified: I believe the Greek alphabet is the derivation of the term Xmas. *Why *people use it? I’m no mind-reader. But on the other hand, I have known people who habitually mis-used the name of Jesus Christ – Why should I “believe” they are being any more respectful of him if they use “Christmas” over “Xmas”?)

tee
Who wonders how many people who object to “Xmas” have no trouble referring to Pope John Paul II of blessed memory as “JP2”, or our current holy father as “B16”…
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tee_eff_em:
Maybe it’s me, and maybe it’s intellectual snobbery 🤓 on my part, because I see X/Chi as a valid and long-traditional abbreviation of “Christ”, and I was taught that when reading or speaking, abbreviations get expanded. I.e. I don’t know anyone who sees “X-mas” and says “*ecksmus” except in an affected way (and the same for X-ian).

Just like I see **"&" **but say “and”; or see **“etc.” **but say "et cetera" or “and the rest”; or see **“i.e.” **but say “for example”; etc. 😉

Does this make sense to anyone? Do others know people who really say “*ecksmus” instead of “Christmas”?

tee
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tee
who is not afraid to risk repeating himself
 
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