{"id":10064,"date":"2011-12-21T05:20:28","date_gmt":"2011-12-21T05:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2011\/12\/21\/merry-xmas-3\/"},"modified":"2011-12-21T05:20:28","modified_gmt":"2011-12-21T05:20:28","slug":"merry-xmas-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2011\/12\/21\/merry-xmas-3\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Merry Xmas’"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was eight years old or so and first took note of the phrase 'Merry Xmas,' my piety was offended by what I took to be the removal of 'Christ' from 'Christmas' only to be replaced by the universally recognized symbol for an unknown quantity, 'X.' But it wasn't long before I realized that the 'X' was merely a font-challenged typesetter's attempt at rendering the Greek Chi<\/em>, an ancient abbreviation for 'Christ.' There is therefore nothing at all offensive in the expression 'Xmas.' Year after year, however, certain ignorant Christians who are old enough to know better make the mistake that I made when I was eight and corrected when I was ten. <\/span><\/p>\n

It just now occurs to me that 'Xmas' may be susceptible of a quasi-Tillichian reading. Paul Tillich <\/span>is famous for his benighted definition <\/span>of 'God' as 'whatever is one's ultimate concern.' Well, take the 'X' in 'Xmas' as a variable the values of which are whatever one wants to celebrate at this time of year. So for some, 'Xmas' will amount to Solstice<\/em>mas, for burglars Swag<\/em>mas, for materialists Loot<\/em>mas, for gluttons Food<\/em>mas, for inebriates Hooch<\/em>mas, and for ACLU extremists Antichristianity<\/em>mas.<\/span><\/p>\n

A reader suggests some further constructions: <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

For those who love the capitol of the Czech Republic: Pragmas. For Dutch Reformed theologians of Frisian extraction who think Christmas is silly: Hoekemas. For Dutch Reformed philosophy professors of Frisian extraction who like preserves on their toast: Jellemas. For fans of older British sci-fi flicks: Quatermas. For those who buy every special seasonal periodical they can get their hands on: Magmas. One could probably multiply such examples ad nauseum<\/em>, so I won't.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

How could an ACLU bonehead object to 'Xmas' so construed? No doubt he would find a way.<\/span><\/p>\n

A while back I quipped that "Aporeticians qua<\/em> aporeticians do not celebrate Christmas. They celebrate Enigmas<\/em>."  My man Hodges<\/a> shot back:  "But they do celebrate 'X-mas'! (<\/var>Or maybe they 'cerebrate' it?)"<\/span><\/p>\n

Merry Chi<\/em>mas to all, and to all a good night.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was eight years old or so and first took note of the phrase 'Merry Xmas,' my piety was offended by what I took to be the removal of 'Christ' from 'Christmas' only to be replaced by the universally recognized symbol for an unknown quantity, 'X.' But it wasn't long before I realized that … Continue reading “‘Merry Xmas’”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-language-matters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10064\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}