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| "Xmas" used on a Christmas postcard, 1910 |
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This is such a busy time of year for all. So when I can take a few shortcuts...especially when writing, as my handwriting is not legible for most. The thought of having to write more letters seemed almost painful. When I was younger I used (and today still often do use) Xmas in place of Christmas. I had never put much thought into it, as it felt natural to do. Recently it came to my attention that some found this offensive, I had not found or thought using Xmas offensive. After I read a post from a friend discussing this very thing, I did a little research. I did not have to go very far as Wikipedia is the first link that popped up when searching the subject and found it very informative. Here is just a little bit of information I got there:
The word "Christ" and its compounds, including "Christmas", have been abbreviated in English for at least the past 1,000 years, long before the modern "Xmas" was commonly used. "Christ" was often written as "XP" or "Xt"; there are references in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as far back as AD 1021. This X and P arose as the uppercase forms of the Greek letters χ and ρ used in ancient abbreviations for Χριστος (Greek for "Christ"),[2] and are still widely seen in many Eastern Orthodox icons depicting Jesus Christ. The labarum, an amalgamation of the two Greek letters rendered as ☧, is a symbol often used to represent Christ in Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christian Churches.[18]
For more reading on the subject go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmas
Being Positive in Rock Tavern,
Laurie
