Why do some people write "X-mas" instead of "Christmas"?

"the "X" comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός, translated as "Christ"."

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"The word "Christ" and its compounds, including "Christmas", have been abbreviated in English for at least the past 1,000 years, long before the modern "Xmas" was commonly used. "Christ" was often written as "XP" or "Xt"; there are references in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as far back as AD 1021. This X and P arose as the uppercase forms of the Greek letters χ and ρ used in ancient abbreviations for Χριστος (Greek for "Christ"), and are still widely seen in many Eastern Orthodox icons depicting Jesus Christ. The labarum, an amalgamation of the two Greek letters rendered as ☧, is a symbol often used to represent Christ in Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christian Churches.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and the OED Supplement have cited usages of "X-" or "Xp-" for "Christ-" as early as 1485. The terms "Xpian" and "Xtian" have also been used for "Christian". The dictionary further cites usage of "Xtianity" for "Christianity" from 1634. According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, most of the evidence for these words comes from "educated Englishmen who knew their Greek".

In ancient Christian art, χ and χρ are abbreviations for Christ's name. In many manuscripts of the New Testament and icons, X is an abbreviation for Christos,[citation needed] as is XC (the first and last letters in Greek, using the lunate sigma);compare IC for Jesus in Greek."

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"X·mas: n. Christmas

[From X, the Greek letter chi, first letter of Greek Khrstos, Christ; see Christ.]

Usage Note: Xmas has been used for hundreds of years in religious writing, where the X represents a Greek chi, the first letter of , "Christ." In this use it is parallel to other forms like Xtian, "Christian." But people unaware of the Greek origin of this X often mistakenly interpret Xmas as an informal shortening pronounced (ksms). Many therefore frown upon the term Xmas because it seems to them a commercial convenience that omits Christ from Christmas."

the X from the Greek alphabet as well as a representation of the cross used for the Crucifixion. If you ask me though, it's just a) removing the religion from the holiday and/or b) laziness.

It was meant to be politically correct because Christ-mas made it only a Christian holiday and X-mas is for everyone. Just the idiotic politically correct world we live in.

X-mas is just shorter then saying Christmas.

it's actually from the greek chi-ro, one of the earliest forms of 'christ', the symbol looks like a p and an x, therefore it IS a way of writing christ

the sound of x is like a "ks" sound..so xmas is a short hand way of christmas because it sounds almost like christmas. same reason why x can also mean a kiss.

Because they're 'hip'

Because they are irreligious.

idk why "x" is the thing that shortens it, but they use a shortener cuz they're lazy. haha