Believe it or not, The_JAM, but I heard that the “X” in Xmas is the Hebrew sign for Christ. Although it seems wrong–and it goes against my grain–it’s perfectly proper…unfortunately.
I’m of the old school that if you mean Christmas, SAY Christmas and don’t mess with semantics!!
Well strictly the X in Xmas is the Greek letter Chi which is seen in the symbol of the X over P used to represent Christ in various religions including the Orthodox, Catholic and many Protestant Churches - Chi-Rho being the first two letters of Christos in Greek. The Oxford English Dictionary finds examples of Xmas (and Xian and Xianity) in English as early as 1551. Hardly a modern secularist invention, but try telling SOME people that.
Don’t know if I will be able to post the Greek spelling of Christ or not but the Greek X stood for the letters Ch
In Greek, Christ is written
Χριστός
In Greek, Christmas looks like this
Χριστούγεννα
A good resource for checking out the original Hebrew or Greek of the Old and New Testament is at Bible Gateway at
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%201:1;&version=70;
This is how Mark 1:1 looks in the original Greek:
αρχη του ευαγγελιου ιησου χριστου υιου του θεου
In English, that becomes:
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
So - using an X to represent Christ is not entirely incorrect - but how many people these days know enough about Greek to realize that? There are ALSO some who believe that the Greek letter X ALSO looks like a cross - and is a reminder of the cross at Christmas. If you look at many of the great paintings of the nativity which are in places like the Metropolitan Museum of Art - many of the artists painted in some kind of foreshadowing of the cross in the nativity pictures.
When I was growing up, everyone who hoped to be able to enter college was expected to have at least one - and preferably two - years of Greek, Hebrew AND Latin under their belts. I live in a Western State and most of the colleges accessible to kids in Western states had originally started as theological seminaries. I started out in a one-room school house. We were expected to be able to read passages from Shakespeare by the time we were in third grade! When I took a college literature course recently, I took along my third grade reader to prove that we DID have to be able to read Shakespeare by the time that we were in the third grade. The teacher passed my readers about to her class of recent high school graduates - and NONE of them could read through an entire page of my third-grade reader without stumbling all over the words!
I guess I did get my “X“‘s crossed. I believe it WAS Greek and NOT Hebrew–never was good with other languages…..Sorry.
But still, I always thought Christmas should be said and spelled Christmas.
When I was a kid, I thought that Xmas was used because there wasn’t enough room on a sign to say “Christmas Trees”,so they said “Xmas Trees” instead. Or it had to do something with retail businesses because they were the ones who used it most. When it got to be a lazy way for people to say and write Christmas, then that it just seemed like the true meaning of the day/season was missing, or gone completely. It made Christmas seem like just another day.
And to JPuzzleWhiz, you have a Merry “Xmas” too…LOL!
pschearer Premium Member over 15 years ago
Some people will believe anything!
But Xmas *IS* a time of joy and goodwill, and I gotta respect that.
i_am_the_jam over 15 years ago
PSchearer, you misspelled “Christmas” :D
Greypilgrim over 15 years ago
Believe it or not, The_JAM, but I heard that the “X” in Xmas is the Hebrew sign for Christ. Although it seems wrong–and it goes against my grain–it’s perfectly proper…unfortunately. I’m of the old school that if you mean Christmas, SAY Christmas and don’t mess with semantics!!
hansr over 15 years ago
God bless you, Jim. And all the Wallets!
bmckee over 15 years ago
Well strictly the X in Xmas is the Greek letter Chi which is seen in the symbol of the X over P used to represent Christ in various religions including the Orthodox, Catholic and many Protestant Churches - Chi-Rho being the first two letters of Christos in Greek. The Oxford English Dictionary finds examples of Xmas (and Xian and Xianity) in English as early as 1551. Hardly a modern secularist invention, but try telling SOME people that.
Durak Premium Member over 15 years ago
Merry Christmas, y’all.
DebJ4 over 15 years ago
Don’t know if I will be able to post the Greek spelling of Christ or not but the Greek X stood for the letters Ch
In Greek, Christ is written Χριστός
In Greek, Christmas looks like this Χριστούγεννα
A good resource for checking out the original Hebrew or Greek of the Old and New Testament is at Bible Gateway at http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%201:1;&version=70;
This is how Mark 1:1 looks in the original Greek: αρχη του ευαγγελιου ιησου χριστου υιου του θεου
In English, that becomes: The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
So - using an X to represent Christ is not entirely incorrect - but how many people these days know enough about Greek to realize that? There are ALSO some who believe that the Greek letter X ALSO looks like a cross - and is a reminder of the cross at Christmas. If you look at many of the great paintings of the nativity which are in places like the Metropolitan Museum of Art - many of the artists painted in some kind of foreshadowing of the cross in the nativity pictures.
When I was growing up, everyone who hoped to be able to enter college was expected to have at least one - and preferably two - years of Greek, Hebrew AND Latin under their belts. I live in a Western State and most of the colleges accessible to kids in Western states had originally started as theological seminaries. I started out in a one-room school house. We were expected to be able to read passages from Shakespeare by the time we were in third grade! When I took a college literature course recently, I took along my third grade reader to prove that we DID have to be able to read Shakespeare by the time that we were in the third grade. The teacher passed my readers about to her class of recent high school graduates - and NONE of them could read through an entire page of my third-grade reader without stumbling all over the words!
Greypilgrim over 15 years ago
I guess I did get my “X“‘s crossed. I believe it WAS Greek and NOT Hebrew–never was good with other languages…..Sorry. But still, I always thought Christmas should be said and spelled Christmas. When I was a kid, I thought that Xmas was used because there wasn’t enough room on a sign to say “Christmas Trees”,so they said “Xmas Trees” instead. Or it had to do something with retail businesses because they were the ones who used it most. When it got to be a lazy way for people to say and write Christmas, then that it just seemed like the true meaning of the day/season was missing, or gone completely. It made Christmas seem like just another day.
And to JPuzzleWhiz, you have a Merry “Xmas” too…LOL!
tabbylynn over 15 years ago
i think that this one is beautiful. i love it. i think it should be spelled out also. Merry christmas to all.
bhac12 over 15 years ago
worst comic strip EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
boozoothatswho over 15 years ago
So, Christmas is a celebration of Valerie Bertinelli giving birth to baby MacCulkin
axe-grinder over 15 years ago
Valerie Bertinelli is pretty…
CaptainColorado over 15 years ago
Nicely done!
Marilyn_Hladek Premium Member over 15 years ago
Hallelujah!!