Wednesday, April 30, 2014

X is for Xmas.

(Yep, it's the end of the month, and I am not finished.  Oops.  Long story short, April was a bit busier than I thought, and I screwed up a little on getting the blogs out.  I will finish up the alphabet, however. Now back to our blog, already in progress.)

This one is as close to political as I am going to get.  I have heard the term Xmas used.  It also causes great controversy and gnashing of teeth in this area.

Some say that it's taking Christ out of Christmas.  Others loudly state that X stands for Christ in Latin.

Have you noticed how words change over time?  I don't know if there will be a 'standard' for the Xmas/Christmas/Holiday thing.  At least not soon.

I was in a classroom, and started with the poem about "Monday's Child is fair of face...", and didn't think a thing about it, when the teacher took me aside.  I couldn't say Sabbath.  Okay, then, it sounded strange, but "Sunday day" worked for the meter.  I ended with "bonny and blithe, good and gay."  An eruption of laughter ensued.  I had SECOND GRADERS that knew "gay" as sex, not as an attitude.  A business, a men's clothing store, had to change part of its name.  It was The Gay Blade", later becoming just "The Blade".

And I'm sure that there are other words that have change meanings over time, for better or, more likely, worse...

I am oddly conscious of words people use.  I sometimes find it's hard to know what to say, when anything you say could be one syllable away from ticking someone off.

And people wonder why I don't talk in groups much...


2 comments:

messymimi said...

Xmas doesn't bother me, nor does Happy Holidays, since "holiday" is short for "holy day." Instead of choosing to be offended, people could just ask you to define how you use a word. If i don't understand, that's what i do, or i try to figure out if there's an alternate meaning and the person isn't trying to say anything offensive. Give the person the benefit of the doubt.

stephen Hayes said...

My mother uses an expression that always makes me smile. When she screws something up she says she, "Pulled a boner." Really Mom?