X-cited about Xmas

X-cited about Xmas

A lot of people have complained that stores are pushing Christmas too early.

I agree! I refuse to play any Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. I think people should at least have a chance to digest their turkey before hearing carols!

And the old prunes who complain about the use of the word "Xmas" should just take a pill! They say that using Xmas is taking "Christ" out of "Christmas".

Not so! It turns out that the “X” is actually indicating the Greek letter “Chi”, which is short for the Greek, meaning “Christ”. So “Xmas” and “Christmas” are equivalent in every way except their lettering.

In fact, one time, it was a very popular practice, particularly with religious scribes, who are thought to have started the whole “Xmas” thing in the first place. Indeed, the practice of using the symbol “X” in place of Christ’s name has been going on among religious scholars for at least 1000 years.

Eventually, this shorthand trick spread to non-religious writings where nearly everywhere “Christ” appeared in a word, the Greek Chi would replace that part of the word. For example, in the 17th and 18th centuries, there are numerous non-religious documents containing instances of “Xine”, which was a common spelling for someone whose name was Christine.

So take that, you sceptics, you! I am looking forward to Xmas, myself!