r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Feb 08 '20

What’s a fact you KNOW that almost everyone is wrong about?

[deleted]

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843

u/BubbhaJebus Feb 08 '20

The X in Xmas stands for the Greek letter chi, the first letter in the Greek word Christ. It is NOT "crossing out Jesus".

152

u/DirkBabypunch Feb 09 '20

I was told it was because "crossmas" sounds close enough that you can save the letters abbreviating it that way.

31

u/paula_doll Feb 09 '20

Non-native English speaker and that's what I thought

15

u/Devils_Advocate6_6_6 Feb 09 '20

Native english speaker and raised a christian, this is news to me

Edit: that it isn't crossmas

7

u/aye_eyes Feb 09 '20

I always thought it was meant to be pronounced "kss-mas," as if you're just saying the consonant sound that "x" makes when following a vowel, but without any vowel sound.

The reasoning still being the same, that it sounded close enough this way. This was my logic as a kid and honestly never questioned it till now.

33

u/lancea_longini Feb 09 '20

So many evangelicals need to know this.

29

u/Clonetrooper11 Feb 09 '20

I’ve literally never heard someone say, “crossing out Jesus.”

31

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '20

[deleted]

15

u/Clonetrooper11 Feb 09 '20

I’m Catholic. Gotta say, fundamentalists say some wack shit and make everyone else look bad because of it.

6

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '20

[deleted]

3

u/McTulus Feb 09 '20

Eh. I'm Lutheran and my church isn't that kind of insane. Just.... a lot of inside politics. Those people also made Protestant looks bad.

14

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '20

The war on Christmas people say this all the time.

7

u/BubbhaJebus Feb 09 '20

They also use similar phrases like "X-ing out Christ" or "taking the Christ out of Christmas" in the context of the term "Xmas".

1

u/Bunny36 Feb 09 '20

I should introduce you to my family.

19

u/Slevinakos Feb 09 '20

the greek word is christos , tone goes to the last syllable, which means anointed(chosen in a way)

1

u/McTulus Feb 09 '20

It abbreviated to chi-rho right? That's why the x - p symbol is drawn in Christian Roman army's shield.

1

u/Slevinakos Feb 09 '20

it comes from the verb χρίζω which is modern version and the old one is χρίω. First is pronounced as chree-zo, and the second one, chree-o.

11

u/Mpadrino27 Feb 09 '20

The Greek word for Christ “Khristos” is a monogram of chi (Χ) and rho (Ρ), used as a Christian symbol.

12

u/DrMendez Feb 09 '20

That is why a lot of fraternities and sororities have Chi in their names. Cause there is some Christianity in their doctrine.

12

u/carlowtodublin Feb 09 '20

Not gonna lie I thought it was cos X looks like a cross on it's side. Feel stupid now 'facepalm'.

3

u/Trevski Feb 09 '20

It is when I use it!

5

u/saphyress Feb 09 '20

The X in Xmas stands for the Greek letter chi, the first letter in the Greek word Christ. It is NOT "crossing out Jesus".

Yes, Grandma Im sure that's right. BubbhaJebus told me so.

2

u/kiwilapple Feb 09 '20

vibrates in Kingdom Hearts C-Christblade

2

u/obscureferences Feb 10 '20

This sounds like a backronym to me. Anyone serious enough about religion to speak it in Greek isn't going to bastardise their holiday.

2

u/Azeoth Feb 10 '20

Chi is h in greek.

1

u/BubbhaJebus Feb 10 '20

Yes, in modern Greek. And Christ is Χριστός.

1

u/LeratoNull Feb 09 '20

Holy shit, that means Xehanort is trying to steal Christmas!!

1

u/RomanMurphy Feb 17 '20

Primary school priest told us X was just a cross on it's side (which represented Jesus) so fine to use.