Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: djdaneh@pacbell.com (Dan'l DanehyOakes) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Bigotry? (Re: The Ongoing Inquisition) Message-ID: Date: 22 May 91 05:08:56 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, CA Lines: 38 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article krueger@writeon.physics.arizona.edu (Theodore Krueger) writes: >I hope that I am not misunderstanding the point made referring >to the abbreviation "Xmas" as being a bad(?) shortening of >"Christmas". I am sure that the "X" in "Xmas" comes from the >first greek letter in "Christ", namely "chi" which looks a lot >like a capital X. You aren't...and you are. As Our Moderator (Blessed Be He) observed elsewhere, yes, that is the *source* of the "X." (The Gk letter was also ikonic because it looks kind of like a stick figure of a bent human frame bearing a crosspiece, the part of the cross they actually made the condemned carry.) But *today* and *in*English* (or Merkin, the language we speak here in Merka), "X" does *not* stand for Christ. "Cmas" might be slightly better, in that sense, I suppose. "Xmas," to many of us, carries connotations of pure commerciality; it became supercommon in modern usage as a result of stores trying to shorten the big word to fit more stuff into their "!!!XMAS SALE!!!" advertisements. To which I can only say, Feh, and (though I certainly *do* exchange gifts and put up a tree) that's not Christmas. That's Xmas. Even more to the point, though, the term "Xtian" is used by a subset of "neopagans" and "wiccans" who definitely intend it to be a slam. Note that I am *NOT* saying that *ALL* N's and W's who use this term mean it that way. But the "X" has taken on, for some of us (and especially for some of us who live in places where neopaganism and wiccanism have a strong hold), a feeling of bigotry. >-- >Be Excellent To Each Other Party on, Dude! Dan'l