Xmas

Xmas is a common abbreviation of the word Christmas. It is sometimes pronounced /ˈɛksməs/, but Xmas, and variants such as Xtemass, originated as handwriting abbreviations for the typical pronunciation /ˈkrɪsməs/. The "X" comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός, which in English is "Christ". The "-mas" part is from the Latin-derived Old English word for Mass,

There is a common belief that the word Xmas stems from a secular attempt to remove the religious tradition from Christmas by taking the "Christ" out of "Christmas", but its use dates back to the 16th century.

Style guides and etiquette

"Xmas" is deprecated by some modern style guides, including those at the New York Times,The Times, The Guardian, and the BBC.Millicent Fenwick, in the 1948 Vogue's Book of Etiquette, states that "'Xmas' should never be used" in greeting cards.The Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage states that the spelling should be considered informal and restricted to contexts where concision is valued, such as headlines and greeting cards.The Christian Writer's Manual of Style, while acknowledging the ancient and respectful use of "Xmas" in the past, states that the spelling should never be used in formal writing.

Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" is a traditional song with lyrics by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, released in 1971 as a single by John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir. The lyrics are set to the traditional English ballad "Skewball". It was the seventh single release by Lennon outside of his work with the Beatles. The song reached number 4 in the UK, where its release was delayed until November 1972, and has periodically reemerged on the UK Singles Chart, most notably after Lennon's death in 1980, at which point it peaked at number 2. Also a protest song against the Vietnam War, "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" has since become a Christmas standard, frequently covered by other artists, appearing on compilation albums of seasonal music, and named in polls as a holiday favourite.

Background

"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" was the culmination of more than two years of peace activism undertaken by John Lennon and Yoko Ono that began with the bed-ins they convened in March and May 1969, the first of which took place during their honeymoon. The song's direct antecedent was an international multimedia campaign launched by the couple in December 1969 – at the height of the counterculture movement and its protests against America's involvement in the Vietnam War – that primarily consisted of renting billboard space in 12 major cities around the world for the display of black-and-white posters that declared "WAR IS OVER! If You Want It – Happy Christmas from John & Yoko". Although this particular slogan had previously appeared in the 1968 anti-war songs "The War Is Over" by Phil Ochs and "The Unknown Soldier" by the Doors (which features the refrain "The war is over"), its subsequent use by Lennon and Ono may just be coincidental; there is no evidence to confirm whether or not they were acquainted with these earlier works.

Merry Xmas (film)

Merry Xmas is an award-winning 2015 American short film directed by Boman Modine and produced by Cinco Dedos Peliculas LLC. The comedic film had its world premiere at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. In June, the short won the Best "Pilot" Award at the 2015 New Media Film Festival in Los Angeles. During Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival, the film screened before a work-in-progress cut of Jen Senko's political documentary, The Brainwashing of My Dad, also produced by Matthew Modine and Adam Rackoff. On August 1, 2015, director Boman Modine and co-producer Adam Rackoff were invited to participate in the "After the Credits" interview series where they discussed the process of casting, shooting, and directing Merry Xmas. On December 11, 2015, it was announced that Merry Xmas closed a deal with Shorts International, the parent company of ShortsHD, to release the film on a variety of digital EST platforms including iTunes Movies, Google Play, Amazon Video, and Verizon. During Christmas week, Merry Xmas was featured on the iTunes Short Films page and landed in the top ten sales chart. Of the top ten films, Merry Xmas was the only live-action film and the only short not produced by Disney or DreamWorks.

Very Merry Xmas

"Very Merry Xmas" is the 39th Japanese single by South Korean pop duo Tohoshinki. Described as an upbeat Christmas carol, "Very Merry Xmas" was released on November 27, 2013 by Avex Trax as the third single from their seventh Japanese studio album, Tree. It was released in three versions – a CD+DVD version, a CD only version, and a Bigeast Board edition.

The song debuted at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart and peaked at number three on Billboard's Japan Hot 100. Selling over 116,000 copies in a week, "Very Merry Xmas" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipments of over 100,000. As of December 2013, "Very Merry Xmas" has reported sales of 130,849 according to the Oricon.

"Very Merry Xmas" is written by Chris Buseck, Tom Hugo Hemansen, and is produced by Shinjiroh Inoue, a frequent collaborator of Tohoshinki. Inoue also wrote the lyrics to both songs, and wrote the B-side song "White".

Formats and track listings

Merry

Merry may refer to:

As a name:

In music:

Places:

Merry (band)

Merry (メリー, Merī, stylized as MERRY) is a Japanese visual keirock band formed in Tokyo in 2001. The current member lineup consists of Gara on vocals, Yuu and Kenichi on guitar, Tetsu on bass, and Nero on the drums.

Members

Merry (song)

"Merry" is a song by American power pop band Magnapop. It was initially released in 1990 as the B-side to a 7" through Safety Net Records (catalogue number NET 17) under the band's original name of Homemade Sister. The song was re-recorded and released again on the EP Sugarland as well as the band's self-titled debut album in 1992 on Solid Records (527.9013.40.)

A live acoustic recording of the song from June 7, 1992, was released on the EP Big Bright Cherry as well as the special edition of the studio album Hot Boxing.

NME described the second recording as "a sublime piece of pop supremacy" and James Sullivan, writing for Addicted to Noise in 1996 declared it one of the group's finest songs.

Track listing

All songs written by Linda Hopper and Ruthie Morris

Personnel