Author: Neil Rees, 16 December 2020
Some people say we shouldn't call Christmas Xmas, because the X is crossing out Christ. But …
Christos is the word for Christ in the Greek New Testament. The first letter of this word is the Greek letter Χ, Chi, which looks like the letter X in our alphabet. The X has come through Church history to be a shorthand symbol for the name of Christ. There's nothing new about it in English, and it goes back as far as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. X is Christ.
X is the Roman numeral used for 10.
On a clock X is 10 o’clock.
X is ten, like the Ten Commandments.
At school a teacher might write a tick for something which is correct, or write a red X by your work to mean you have done something wrong.
X is when you cross something out.
X is something we have done wrong.
At the end of a letter to someone you love, you put an x for a kiss.
X means a kiss and it means you love someone.
X is a symbol of love.
In algebra, x is used as a symbol to mean the unknown factor which you try to work out. It represents the answer you are looking for in an equation.
X is the answer you seek.
In pirate stories, an X marks the spot of buried treasure.
It shows you where to dig.
X is the place of our treasure.
When someone has that ‘X factor’, they have that special something which an agent or recruiter is looking for.
X is that special factor.
When you stop at a four-way junction, the road sign has an X on it for a crossroads.
X stands for a cross.
In mathematics, an x is used as symbol for multiplication.
We write x after a number meaning to do something more than once.
We write 2x to mean twice, or 3x to mean thrice.
X means many times.
In an election, when you vote for someone you put an X in the box.
X means you vote for someone.
X means you have made a positive decision to support someone.
The X in Xmas is not crossing out Christ.
The X stands for Greek Chi, the abbreviation for Christ. The X is Christ. The X is for our treasure. It stands for the answer we seek. The X is for the special factor in our life. The X shows us that Christ loves us. It stands for the Ten Commandments. The X shows we have done things wrong, and that we are forgiven many times. The X is the cross he died on, and the positive decision we can make to have him in our lives.
Happy Xmas!
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