Steven E. Wedel

Dark, soulful tales that haunt long after the last page.

What the hell is Xmas?


In a thread on the Shocklines message board somebody asked other posters to comment on when the Xmas season officially begins for them. I wrote this response, then decided not to incite a flamewar by posting it. But I’ll put it here.

I guess, for me, the season doesn’t really begin until I grit my teeth, then yell, “The name of the federally sanctioned holiday is Christmas, not Xmas! It doesn’t matter if you like it, believe in Christ, celebrate it or not, the freaking name of the federal holiday is Christmas. You get a day off work for it. Call it what it is!”

I know several atheists, Pagans and others will jump in here now. Some will say Christmas was renamed from the Pagan Yule. I know that. You wanna celebrate Yule, great! But call it that. Kwanza, Hanukah, whatever, fine. Why the need to pervert the name of a holiday celebrated by millions of Christians?

I have the same problem with Independence Day being called the Fourth of July. We’re not celebrating that the fourth day of July has rolled around. We’re celebrating our nation’s independence. But to a lot of people the day has no meaning other than barbecue, beer and firecrackers.

There’s the first of today’s rants. I expect there’ll be more. I’m in a rather foul mood today.

Steven E. Wedel

5 responses to “What the hell is Xmas?”

  1. nick_kaufmann Avatar
    nick_kaufmann

    Check this out for the origin of the “Xmas” diminutive: http://www.bartleby.com/61/80/X0008000.html

    Reply
    1. sewedel Avatar
      sewedel

      Huh?
      Well, I’ll be damned. Thanks for pointing that out. I’ll go sheepishly about my business now. For a while. 😉

      Reply
      1. karenetaylor Avatar
        karenetaylor

        Re: Huh?
        Very interesting.
        I’d learned in school from the nuns that the x was a symbol of the cross and therefore (when I was a devout Christian) its use never bothered me.

        Reply
  2. horrorwench Avatar
    horrorwench

    ohhhhhhh we’re a little twitchy today, eh? guess that means the season has started for you =)) i say xmas in posts/emails and such just cuz i’m lazy – hell i don’t capitalize anything either remember =))) but in cards and other things i DO write it out, dirty atheist or not, it is CHRISTmas…
    and i didn’t post over there either – but for me the season officially starts when i’ve yelled at my first old lady and stop going to the store during the daylight hours… it has begun, and the blue hair will be just fine soon as she calms down =))
    more rants, eh? hehehe… cool! something fun to watch today when i should be working!!

    Reply
  3. steve_vernon Avatar
    steve_vernon

    Christmas/Xmas
    Hmm. Let me take a stir at the stewpot here and see what bits of gristle float to the top.
    It’s true that Xmas is a proper term, (historically), yet the more times it gets used as a short form, the more times people begin to think of it as just that. Usage dictates meaning. If I use a screwdriver to open my beer, if everybody uses a screwdriver to open a beer, then eventually somebody’s going to look at that screwdriver and say “Hand me that beer opener, eh?”.
    So maybe you do have something to get riled up about Steve. But why the fuck bother, when there’s folks out there using words like “bling” and something or other called “fahshizzle”. The barbarians are at the gate and their wiping their hairy kilted arses on the scrolls of Alexandria.

    Reply

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