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Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

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Ritual
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goffik
goffik
3926 posts

Re: Ritual
Jan 10, 2006, 07:36
I just found this:

"by the fifteenth century Xmas emerged as a widely used symbol for Christmas. In 1436 Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press with moveable type. In the early days of printing typesetting was done by hand and was very tedious and expensive. As a result, abbreviations were common. In religious publications, the church began to use the abbreviation C for the word "Christ" to cut down on the cost of the books and pamphlets. From there, the abbreviation moved into general use in newspapers and other publications, and "Xmas" became an accepted way of printing "Christmas" (along with the abbreviations Xian and Xianity). Even Webster's dictionary acknowledges that the abbreviation Xmas was in common use by the middle of the sixteenth century."

So there! If it's good enough for 15th century typesetters, it's good enough for me. ;o)

G x
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Re: Ritual (Moth)
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