Xmas
Xmas (also X-mas) is a common abbreviation of the word ''Christmas''. It is sometimes pronounced , but ''Xmas'', and variants such as ''Xtemass'', originated as handwriting abbreviations for the typical pronunciation . The "X" comes from the Greek letter '' Chi'', which is the first letter of the Greek word (), which became ''Christ'' in English. The suffix ''-mas'' is from the Latin-derived Old English word for Mass. There is a Common English belief that the word ''Xmas'' stems from a secularizing tendency to de-emphasize the religious tradition from Christmas. Style guides and etiquette "Xmas" is deprecated by some modern style guides, including those at the ''New York Times'''The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage''''The Times'', ''The Guardian'', and the BBC.Griffiths, Emma"Why get cross about Xmas?" BBC website, December 22, 2004. Retrieved December 28, 2008. Millicent Fenwick, in the 1948 ''Vogue's Book of Etiquette'', states that "'Xmas' should never be used" in g ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Christ (title)
Christ, used by Christians as both a name and a title, unambiguously refers to Jesus. It is also used as a title, in the reciprocal use "Christ Jesus", meaning "the Messiah Jesus", and independently as "the Christ". The Pauline epistles, the earliest texts of the New Testament, often refer to Jesus as "Christ Jesus" or "Christ". The concept of the Christ in Christianity originated from the concept of the messiah in Judaism. Christians believe that Jesus is the messiah foretold in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Although the conceptions of the messiah in each religion are similar, for the most part they are distinct from one another due to the split of early Christianity and Judaism in the 1st century. Although the original followers of Jesus believed Jesus to be the Jewish messiah, e.g. in the Confession of Peter, Jesus was usually referred to as "Jesus of Nazareth" or "Jesus, son of Joseph", Jesus came to be called "Jesus Christ" (meaning "Jesus the ''K ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around the world. A Calendar of saints, feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it is preceded by the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts Twelve Days of Christmas, twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night (holiday), Twelfth Night. Christmas Day is a public holiday in List of holidays by country, many countries, is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians, as well as Christian culture, culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the Christmas and holiday season, holiday season organized around it. The traditional Christmas narrative recounted in the New Testament, known as the Nativity of Jesus, says that Jesus was born in Bet ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chi (letter)
Chi (uppercase Χ, lowercase χ; el, χῖ) is the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet. Greek Pronunciation Ancient Greek Its value in Ancient Greek was an aspirated velar stop (in the Western Greek alphabet: /ks/). Koine Greek In Koine Greek and later dialects it became a fricative (/) along with Θ and Φ. Modern Greek In Modern Greek, it has two distinct pronunciations: In front of high or front vowels ( or ) it is pronounced as a voiceless palatal fricative , as in German ''ich'' or like the ''h'' in some pronunciations of the English words ''hew'' and ''human''. In front of low or back vowels (, or ) and consonants, it is pronounced as a voiceless velar fricative (), as in German ''ach'' or Spanish ''j''. Transliteration Chi is romanized as in most systematic transliteration conventions, but sometimes is used. In addition, in Modern Greek, it is often also romanized as or in informal practice. Greek numeral In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 6 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Meldrim Thomson
Meldrim Thomson Jr. (March 8, 1912 – April 19, 2001) was an American politician who served three terms as the 73rd governor of New Hampshire from 1973 to 1979. A Republican, he was known as a strong supporter of conservative political values. Early life Thomson was born in 1912 in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, the son of Meldrim and Marion (Booth) Thomson, and was raised in Georgia and Florida. He was an Eagle Scout. Thomson attended Mercer University, Washington and Jefferson College, and the University of Georgia School of Law and was admitted to the practice of law in Florida in 1936. In 1938, he married his secretary, Anne Gale Kelly, and together they had six children. Thomson made his fortune publishing law books. In 1952, he founded Equity Publishing Corp., which published the laws of New Hampshire, Vermont, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico in English and Spanish. In 1955, he moved his family to New Hampshire, where he became involved in local and state educationa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935) was an American jurist and legal scholar who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932.Holmes was Acting Chief Justice of the United States in February 1930. He is one of the most widely cited U.S. Supreme Court justices and most influential American common law judges in history, noted for his long service, pithy opinions—particularly those on civil liberties and American constitutional democracy—and deference to the decisions of elected legislatures. Holmes retired from the court at the age of 90, an unbeaten record for oldest justice on the Supreme Court.John Paul Stevens was only 8 months younger when he retired on April 12, 2010. He previously served as a Brevet Colonel in the American Civil War, in which he was wounded three times, as an associate justice and chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and as Weld Professor of Law at his alm ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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George Woodward (diplomat)
George Woodward (c.1698 – 10 November 1735) was a British diplomat to Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ... during the early 18th century. He was appointed Resident to Poland in 1728, when August II's poor health raised the question of succession to the Polish crown. Arriving in Dresden in 1729, he remained at Warsaw or Dresden until 1731. After returning to Britain he was sent to Poland once more in 1732, as diplomatic rank, Envoy Extraordinary.D. B. Horn, ed., ''British Diplomatic Representatives 1689-1789'', 1932, pp.90-91. Camden Third Series. He died at Warsaw in his 38th year, and was buried in the churchyard at Hillesden, Buckinghamshire. References External links * 1698 births Year of birth uncertain 1735 deaths Ambassadors of Great Brita ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the greatest of English poets. Among his best-known works are the lengthy Narrative poem, narratives ''Don Juan (poem), Don Juan'' and ''Childe Harold's Pilgrimage''; many of his shorter lyrics in ''Hebrew Melodies'' also became popular. Byron was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, later traveling extensively across Europe to places such as Italy, where he lived for seven years in Venice, Ravenna, and Pisa after he was forced to flee England due to lynching threats. During his stay in Italy, he frequently visited his friend and fellow poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Later in life Byron joined the Greek War of Independence fighting the Ottoman Empire and died leading a campaign during that war, for which Greeks rev ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Samuel Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He also shared volumes and collaborated with Charles Lamb, Robert Southey, and Charles Lloyd. He wrote the poems ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' and ''Kubla Khan'', as well as the major prose work ''Biographia Literaria''. His critical work, especially on William Shakespeare, was highly influential, and he helped introduce German idealist philosophy to English-speaking cultures. Coleridge coined many familiar words and phrases, including "suspension of disbelief". He had a major influence on Ralph Waldo Emerson and American transcendentalism. Throughout his adult life, Coleridge had crippling bouts of anxiety and depression; it has been speculated that he had bipolar disorder, which had not been defined during his lifetime.Jamis ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ''Through the Looking-Glass'' (1871). He was noted for his facility with word play, logic, and fantasy. His poems ''Jabberwocky'' (1871) and ''The Hunting of the Snark'' (1876) are classified in the genre of literary nonsense. Carroll came from a family of high-church Anglicanism, Anglicans, and developed a long relationship with Christ Church, Oxford, where he lived for most of his life as a scholar and teacher. Alice Liddell, the daughter of Christ Church's dean Henry Liddell, is widely identified as the original inspiration for ''Alice in Wonderland'', though Carroll always denied this. An avid puzzler, Carroll created the word ladder puzzle (which he then called "Doublets"), which he published in his weekly column for ''Vanity Fair ( ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alan Chesters (Bishop)
Alan David Chesters CBE (born 26 August 1937) was the Bishop of Blackburn from 1989 to 2003. Early life and education Chesters is the son of Herbert and Catherine Chesters, of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. He was educated at Elland Grammar School, St Chad's College, Durham (Bachelor of Arts, 1959), St Catherine's Society, Oxford (Bachelor of Arts, 1961), Oxford Master of Arts (1965) and St Stephen's House, Oxford (1959–1962). He was ordained deacon in 1962, priest in 1963 and bishop in 1989. Ministry Chesters served as assistant curate of St Anne's Wandsworth from 1962 to 1965. He then became chaplain of Tiffin School (1966–72), a post that he soon combined with that of honorary assistant curate of St Richard's Ham (1967–72). Returning to the north of England, where he was to spend the rest of his ministry, he became director of education for the Diocese of Durham and rector of Brancepeth (1972–85). He was an honorary canon of Durham Cathedral from 1975 until 198 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Church Of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain by the 3rd century and to the 6th-century Gregorian mission to Kent led by Augustine of Canterbury. The English church renounced papal authority in 1534 when Henry VIII failed to secure a papal annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The English Reformation accelerated under Edward VI's regents, before a brief restoration of papal authority under Queen Mary I and King Philip. The Act of Supremacy 1558 renewed the breach, and the Elizabethan Settlement charted a course enabling the English church to describe itself as both Reformed and Catholic. In the earlier phase of the English Reformation there were both Roman Catholic martyrs and radical Protestant martyrs. The later phases saw the Penal Laws punish Ro ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |