The abbreviation of Xmas for Christmas is neither modern nor disrespectful. The Oxford English Dictionary documents the use of this abbreviation back to 1551. Undoubtedly it was employed before that. Why do we think this is a new and vulgar representation of the word Christmas? It 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...
