X-Mas: The Mutant Holiday

Here's a story from when I was little...

My brother had a floppy disk full of christmas-y themed "games" for the Commodore 64. I recall one of the games talked about X-Mas which was a term I was confused about. So I asked my brother (apologies to my brother, my memory of his responses is not exact. I was probably 8 at the time).

How do you pronounce this? Ex - mass
What does that mean? It stands for Christmas.
But why don't they just say Christmas? Because it's different, easier. Shorter.
And why do they use the X? It's like a cross.
But then it should be Cross-Mass, shouldn't it? Well, no. It's because the cross is a religious symbol.
Oh, but... Ok.

By that point I think I got bored with the subject. And my brother probably wanted to play some other game.

But that was my introduction to the concept of Xmas. It actually bugged me quite a bit, the whole X being pronounced "ex" but being a stand-in for "chris" because it's a cross? That's garbage!

Later it would occur to me that the holiday that I celebrated as Christmas was pretty well devoid of any religious reference, except the name. Christ Mass is pretty a fairly explicit reference. However, Xmas is really devoid of religious meaning. So that is what I generally have started using to refer to this celebratory period before the New Year.



So, my Atheist/Jewish/Muslim/Pagan friends, allow me to celebrate Xmas with you. Don't worry, it's not about the birth of the son of God.

Prop 8: the Musical

RE: a subject discussed earlier

Blogging Summary

Here's some blogging to make up for all the time I haven't blogged.

I have no comment about Obama's cabinet picks. I have little to say that hasn't been said about Governor Blagogogoagovavich. A man with a name like that should not be in politics anyway. I'm not sure what to make of the mess that is Canada's national government. Nor anything of import to say about the student-led chaos in Greece (although a movement led by anarchists is ripe for the mocking).

The economy isn't looking so hot, but you didn't hear that from me. And all my investments are worth significantly less than they used to be. Though no one's explained to my satisfaction how the values of these things are determined.

The Giants clinched the NFC East last weekend (by losing, so it's tough to get excited). The Knicks are still batshit crazy.

I was just in Canada, and saw some hockey on TV. I participated in the famed "Hockey Night in Canada". This involved a pub crawl around town, with YSA. The male to female ratio was out of control (like 10:1). Which was disappointing for me, but did you hear that straight women/gay men? Toronto's new slogan: Like shooting fish in a barrel.

Edit: Zimbabwe deserves a mention in the list of places where crap is happening. The times suggests that inflation there may be as high as 8 followed by 18 zeros. That's 8 quintillion for those who are playing at home.