In the first place, I well know Mark's opinion of Christmas. I have not defended his opinion, but rather his usage of the "X" in place of "Christ." You attacked it as disrespectful toward our Lord, but I defended it saying that it is not disrepectful, but stems from history. It is true that the English letter X is not the Greek letter chi, but the two letters are indistinguishable in capital form, English X is derived from Greek chi, and of course it is not convenient to type Greek letters on an English keyboard. If you find it disprectful because it is an abbreviation, then I have nothing more to say except that I don't think abbreviations are inherently disrespectful.

Furthermore, the history you have provided may be true as regards illiterates signing with an X, but what I have said about the abbreviation "Xmas" is true:

Quote
The X abbreviation of 'Xmas' for 'Christmas' is neither modern nor disrespectful. The notion that it is a new and vulgar representation of the word 'Christmas' seems to stem from the erroneous belief that the letter 'X' is used to stand for the word 'Christ' because of its resemblance to a cross, or that the abbreviation was deliberately concocted "to take the 'Christ' out of Christmas." Actually, this usage is nearly as old as Christianity itself, and its origins lie in the fact that the first letter in the Greek word for 'Christ' is 'chi,' and the Greek letter 'chi' is represented by a symbol similar to the letter 'X' in the modern Roman alphabet. Hence 'Xmas' is indeed perfectly legitimate abbreviation for the word 'Christmas' (just as 'Xian' is also sometimes used as an abbreviation of the word 'Christian'). [Source: Snopes.com.]

Mark's knowledge of the history of this abbreviation is irrelevant, as he had absolutely no intent of blaspheming our Lord by misusing His Name, nor is the abbreviation itself historically blasphemous.

Your responses to me on this subject have been most unjust, Joe. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/scold.gif" alt="" />

Kyle

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified.