4. Adventswoche

Gedicht | Falsche Liebe | Why Xmas? | Das Weihnachtsgeschenk | Einsam

Why Xmas ?

Many of you wonder why we call a little Welsh Terrier "Xmas". Well perhaps you know that each litter is characterized by a different initial letter. When Xmas was born on 3rd November 1997 all names of this litter had to start with an 'X'. Believe me or not, it is really very difficult to find a suitable name for such a nice and beautiful puppy starting with an 'X'. We thought of something like X-Rose, Xenia, X-ray etc., but as Christmas was not far away we got that brilliant idea to call her Xmas and we did not regret doing so. Xmas really deserves its name being a small wonder which gives us great pleasure and joy to the world.

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But have you ever asked yourself why we write and use Xmas instead of Christmas? Well, here is the answer:

Why Xmas?

There are two reasons why some people write Xmas instead of Christmas, an historical reason and a practical reason. The historical reason is that the Greek letter X (chi) is the first letter in the Greek word for Christ. Since at least as far back as 1100, English writers followed a practice which had been used in Latin manuscripts. They wrote X as an abbreviation for Christ as well as Xnity, Xn and Xmas as short forms for Christianity, Christian and Christmas.

Most English Speakers today, however, are not aware of this historical reason and often assume that Xmas was invented by modern advertisement writers as a shorter, easier form of Christmas. Xmas is often used in informal writing and on signs where it's necessary to save space.

While Xmas is very common and practical, some people think it's a lazy habit and others object to "crossing out" the name of Christ. There's a slogan "Put Christ back in Christmas."

When reading, Xmas is pronounced like Christmas and not "eks-mas", unless one wants to emphasize that the form Xmas was used.
 

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