Common English usage misconceptions
Encyclopedia
This list comprises widespread modern beliefs about English language usage that are documented by a reliable source to be inaccurate or untrue.
Perceived usage and grammar violations elicit visceral reactions in many people. For example, respondents to a 1986 BBC
poll were asked to submit "the three points of grammatical usage they most disliked". Participants stated that their noted points " 'made their blood boil', 'gave a pain to their ear', 'made them shudder', and 'appalled' them". But not all commonly held usage
violations are errors; many are only perceived as such.
With no authoritative language academy, English is not a prescriptive language. Therefore, guidance on English
language usage can come from many sources. This can create problems as described by Reginald Close,
("Grammar Girl") says, "nearly all grammarians agree that it's fine to end sentences with prepositions, at least in some cases." Fowler's says that "One of the most persistent myths about prepositions in English is that they properly belong before the word or words they govern and should not be placed at the end of a clause or sentence." This idea probably began in the 17th century, owing to an essay by the poet John Dryden
, and it is still taught in schools today. But, "every major grammarian for more than a century has tried to debunk" this idea; "it's perfectly natural to put a preposition at the end of a sentence, and it has been since Anglo-Saxon times." "Great literature from Chaucer to Milton to Shakespeare to the King James version of the Bible was full of so called terminal prepositions." Winston Churchill
is said to have written, "This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put," illustrating the awkwardness that could result from a rule prohibiting sentence-ending prepositions.
Misconception: Infinitives must not be split
. "There is no such rule" against splitting an infinitive, according to The Oxford Guide to Plain English, and it's "never been wrong to 'split' an infinitive". In some cases it might be preferable to split an infinitive. But, Phillip Howard states that this is "another great Shibboleth of English syntax", and the "grammatical 'rule' that most people retain from their schooldays is the one about not splitting infinitives". According to the University of Chicago
Writing Program, "Professional linguists have been snickering at it for decades, yet children are still taught this false 'rule.' "
In his grammar book A Plea for the Queen's English (1864), Henry Alford
claimed that "to" was part of the infinitive and that the parts were inseparable. This was in line with a movement by grammarians in the 19th century to transfer Latin rules to the English language (in Latin, infinitives are unsplittable words, e.g., "amare, cantare, audire").
Misconception: The words "and" and "but" must not begin a sentence. Jeremy Butterfield described this perceived prohibition as one of "the folk commandments of English usage". The Chicago Manual of Style says,
Regarding the word "and", Fowler's Modern English Usage
states, "There is a persistent belief that it is improper to begin a sentence with And, but this prohibition has been cheerfully ignored by standard authors from Anglo-Saxon times onwards." Garner's Modern American Usage
adds, "It is rank superstition that this coordinating conjuction cannot properly begin a sentence." The word "but" suffers from similar misconceptions. Garner
tells us that, "It is a gross canard that beginning a sentence with but is stylistically slipshod. In fact, doing so is highly desirable in any number of contexts, as many stylebooks have said (many correctly pointing out that but is more effective than however at the beginning of a sentence)". Fowler's echoes this sentiment, saying "The widespread public belief that But should not be used at the beginning of a sentence seems to be unshakeable. Yet it has no foundation."
Misconception: The passive voice
is incorrect. This is an English myth and "writing tutors" sometimes believe that the passive voice is to be avoided in all cases. However, "There are legitimate uses for the passive voice," says Paul Brians. Mignon Fogarty
also points out that "passive sentences aren't incorrect", and "If you don't know who is responsible for an action, passive voice can be the best choice." Bryan A. Garner
adds a twist to the misconception about passive voice with the statement, "Many writers talk about passive voice without knowing exactly what it is. In fact, many think that any BE-VERB signals passive voice."
Misconception: Using double negatives is bad English. This myth is included by Patricia O'Conner in a list of "bogus or worn out rules". She advises readers to avoid certain uses (such as "I didn't do nothing") but not to completely remove the double negative from our English toolboxes when constructing prose. O'Connor provides the following as acceptable examples: "It's not inconceivable. She's not unappealing." Paul Brians, who affirms that "It is not true, as some assert, that double negatives are always wrong," provides the following as a humorous example:
convention that has carried over into the age of digital media. Most style guide
s recommend only a single space between sentences
. Professionally published books, magazines, and newspapers also use a single space between sentences, but even this is widely overlooked.
Misconception: Every paragraph
must be indented. Professionally printed material does not always have an indented first paragraph. Robert Bringhurst
states that we should "Set opening paragraphs flush left" and explains as follows: "The function of a paragraph is to mark a pause, setting the paragraph apart from what precedes it. If a paragraph is preceded by a title or subhead, the indent is superfluous and can therefore be omitted."
Misconception: Hyphens and dashes have the same meaning. According to David Jury, "a prevailing lack of typographic knowledge mean[s] that the hyphen is, today, commonly used for all dashes, just as it was when this was due to the technical limitations of the typewriter." These characters "all have different purposes, but they are often confused and misused".
Misconception: Straight quotation marks (or "dumb" quotes) are the same as quotation marks. According to Ilene Strizver, "Misuse of 'dumb' quotes is one of the most common typographical faux pas, which is repeatedly found in high-end print, multimedia advertising, movie credits, as well as non-professional work." These "refugees from the typewriter keyboard ... have no typographic function". Unlike "smart" modern text-editing software, typewriters cannot differentiate the beginning of a quote from the end and simply produce straight quotes when the quote key is pressed. Computer code, email, and other plain-text computer media typically use "dumb" quotes as well, because curved quotation marks are not included in the ASCII
character set.
s must comprise at least three sentences. This is an English myth. Richard Nordquist
states that "no rule exists regarding the number of sentences that make up a paragraph," noting that professional writers use "paragraphs as short as a single word". According to the Oxford Guide to Plain English,
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's
Writing Center states on its website, "Many students define paragraphs in terms of length: a paragraph is a group of at least five sentences, a paragraph is half a page long, etc." The website explains, "Length and appearance do not determine whether a section in a paper is a paragraph. For instance, in some styles of writing, particularly journalistic styles, a paragraph can be just one sentence long." Many of history's greatest writers used one and two sentence paragraphs in their works.
Misconception: Contractions
aren't appropriate in proper English. Bill Walsh lists this as one of the "big myths of English usage" and Patricia O'Connor and Stewart Kellerman write, "A lot of people ... still seem to think that contractions are not quite ... quite. If you do too, you're quite wrong." Writers such as Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson
, and others since Anglo-Saxon days have been "shrinking English." Some of the opinion makers in the 17th and 18th century eschewed contractions, but beginning in the 1920s, usage guides have allowed them. "Most writing handbooks now recommend contractions," but "there are still lots of traditionalists out there who haven't gotten the word," contributing to the modern myth that contractions are forbidden usage.
Misconception: "I feel badly" is the correct negative response to "How do you feel?" According to Paul Brians in Common Errors in English Usage, " 'I feel bad' is standard English," and " 'I feel badly' is an incorrect hyper-correction by people who think they know better than the masses."
Misconception: The phrase "begs the question" is synonymous with "raises the question." "Begging the question"
is a logical fallacy, but "most people now suppose the phrase implies something quite different: that the argument demands that a question about it be asked—raises the question," says Paul Brians. However, Merriam-Webster dictionaries allow both meanings.
Misconception: "Healthy" is an incorrect adjective to describe a food. According to Paul Brians, "Many argue 'people are healthy, but vegetables are healthful' "; however, "phrases like 'part of a healthy breakfast' have become so widespread that they are rarely perceived as erroneous except by the hyper-correct.
Misconception: "Irregardless
" is not a word. Merriam-Webster
states that, "The most frequently repeated remark about it is that 'there is no such word.' " According to Mignon Fogarty, this is an English myth. "You shouldn't use it if you want to be taken seriously, but it has gained wide enough use to qualify as a word."
Misconception: "Inflammable" means something that cannot burn. " 'Flammable' and 'inflammable' both mean 'easy to catch on fire,' but so many people misunderstand the latter term that it's better to stick with 'flammable' in safety warnings," says Paul Brians.
Misconception: "Nauseous" cannot mean suffering from nausea. Some writers on language, such as Theodore Bernstein and Bill Bryson, have advanced the idea that "nauseous" means only causing nausea (synonymous with "nauseating") not suffering from it (which would be "nauseated"), and therefore it is incorrect to say "I am nauseous" (unless you mean to say "I inspire nausea in others"). This prescription is contradicted by vast evidence from English usage, and Merriam-Webster finds no source for the rule prior to a published letter by a physician, Deborah Leary, in 1949.
Misconception: "Xmas
" is a secular plan to "take the Christ out of Christmas." "The usual suggestion is that 'Xmas' is ... an attempt by the ungodly to x-out Jesus and banish religion from the holiday." However, X stands for the Greek letter Chi
, the starting letter of Χριστός, or "Christ" in Greek. (Also see the related Chi Rho
symbol.) The use of the word "Xmas" can be traced to the year 1021 when "monks in Great Britain...used the X while transcribing classical manuscripts into Old English" in place of "Christ". The Oxford English Dictionary's "first recorded use of 'Xmas' for 'Christmas' dates back to 1551." Paul Brians adds that, "so few people know this that it is probably better not to use this popular abbreviation in religious contexts."
Perceived usage and grammar violations elicit visceral reactions in many people. For example, respondents to a 1986 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
poll were asked to submit "the three points of grammatical usage they most disliked". Participants stated that their noted points " 'made their blood boil', 'gave a pain to their ear', 'made them shudder', and 'appalled' them". But not all commonly held usage
Usage
Usage is the manner in which written and spoken language is used. H. W. Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage "defines usage as 'points of grammar, syntax, style, and the choice of words'". The Oxford Dictionary of English defines usage as "the way in which a word or phrase is normally and...
violations are errors; many are only perceived as such.
With no authoritative language academy, English is not a prescriptive language. Therefore, guidance on English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
language usage can come from many sources. This can create problems as described by Reginald Close,
Teachers and textbook writers often invent rules which their students and readers repeat and perpetuate. These rules are usually statements about English usage which the authors imagine to be, as a rule, true. But statements of this kind are extremely difficult to formulate both simply and accurately. They are rarely altogether true; often only partially true; sometimes contradicted by usage itself. Sometimes the contrary to them is also true.
Grammar
Misconception: A sentence must not end in a preposition. It is a myth that it is incorrect to end a sentence with a preposition. Mignon FogartyMignon Fogarty
Mignon Fogarty is a former science writer who produces an educational podcast Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, which promotes the proper use of the English language and was named one of the best podcasts of 2007 by iTunes. She is also the founder of the Quick and Dirty Tips...
("Grammar Girl") says, "nearly all grammarians agree that it's fine to end sentences with prepositions, at least in some cases." Fowler's says that "One of the most persistent myths about prepositions in English is that they properly belong before the word or words they govern and should not be placed at the end of a clause or sentence." This idea probably began in the 17th century, owing to an essay by the poet John Dryden
John Dryden
John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...
, and it is still taught in schools today. But, "every major grammarian for more than a century has tried to debunk" this idea; "it's perfectly natural to put a preposition at the end of a sentence, and it has been since Anglo-Saxon times." "Great literature from Chaucer to Milton to Shakespeare to the King James version of the Bible was full of so called terminal prepositions." Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
is said to have written, "This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put," illustrating the awkwardness that could result from a rule prohibiting sentence-ending prepositions.
Misconception: Infinitives must not be split
Split infinitive
A split infinitive is an English-language grammatical construction in which a word or phrase, usually an adverb or adverbial phrase, comes between the marker to and the bare infinitive form of a verb....
. "There is no such rule" against splitting an infinitive, according to The Oxford Guide to Plain English, and it's "never been wrong to 'split' an infinitive". In some cases it might be preferable to split an infinitive. But, Phillip Howard states that this is "another great Shibboleth of English syntax", and the "grammatical 'rule' that most people retain from their schooldays is the one about not splitting infinitives". According to the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
Writing Program, "Professional linguists have been snickering at it for decades, yet children are still taught this false 'rule.' "
In his grammar book A Plea for the Queen's English (1864), Henry Alford
Henry Alford
Henry Alford was an English churchman, theologian, textual critic, scholar, poet, hymnodist, and writer.-Life:...
claimed that "to" was part of the infinitive and that the parts were inseparable. This was in line with a movement by grammarians in the 19th century to transfer Latin rules to the English language (in Latin, infinitives are unsplittable words, e.g., "amare, cantare, audire").
Misconception: The words "and" and "but" must not begin a sentence. Jeremy Butterfield described this perceived prohibition as one of "the folk commandments of English usage". The Chicago Manual of Style says,
There is a widespread belief—one with no historical or grammatical foundation—that it is an error to begin a sentence with a conjunction such as 'and', 'but', or 'so'. In fact, a substantial percentage (often as many as 10 percent) of the sentences in first-rate writing begin with conjunctions. It has been so for centuries, and even the most conservative grammarians have followed this practice.
Regarding the word "and", Fowler's Modern English Usage
Fowler's Modern English Usage
A Dictionary of Modern English Usage , by Henry Watson Fowler , is a style guide to British English usage, pronunciation, and writing...
states, "There is a persistent belief that it is improper to begin a sentence with And, but this prohibition has been cheerfully ignored by standard authors from Anglo-Saxon times onwards." Garner's Modern American Usage
Garner's Modern American Usage
Garner's Modern American Usage, edited by Bryan Garner, is a usage guide for contemporary American English. Modern American Usage covers issues of usage, pronunciation, and style, from plurals and literary techniques to distinctions between similar words and the usage of foreign terms.-Editions and...
adds, "It is rank superstition that this coordinating conjuction cannot properly begin a sentence." The word "but" suffers from similar misconceptions. Garner
Bryan A. Garner
Bryan A. Garner is a U.S. lawyer, lexicographer, and teacher who has written several books about English usage and style, including Garner's Modern American Usage. He is the editor in chief of all current editions of Black's Law Dictionary...
tells us that, "It is a gross canard that beginning a sentence with but is stylistically slipshod. In fact, doing so is highly desirable in any number of contexts, as many stylebooks have said (many correctly pointing out that but is more effective than however at the beginning of a sentence)". Fowler's echoes this sentiment, saying "The widespread public belief that But should not be used at the beginning of a sentence seems to be unshakeable. Yet it has no foundation."
Misconception: The passive voice
English passive voice
The passive voice is a grammatical construction in which the subject of a sentence or clause denotes the recipient of the action rather than the performer...
is incorrect. This is an English myth and "writing tutors" sometimes believe that the passive voice is to be avoided in all cases. However, "There are legitimate uses for the passive voice," says Paul Brians. Mignon Fogarty
Mignon Fogarty
Mignon Fogarty is a former science writer who produces an educational podcast Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, which promotes the proper use of the English language and was named one of the best podcasts of 2007 by iTunes. She is also the founder of the Quick and Dirty Tips...
also points out that "passive sentences aren't incorrect", and "If you don't know who is responsible for an action, passive voice can be the best choice." Bryan A. Garner
Bryan A. Garner
Bryan A. Garner is a U.S. lawyer, lexicographer, and teacher who has written several books about English usage and style, including Garner's Modern American Usage. He is the editor in chief of all current editions of Black's Law Dictionary...
adds a twist to the misconception about passive voice with the statement, "Many writers talk about passive voice without knowing exactly what it is. In fact, many think that any BE-VERB signals passive voice."
Misconception: Using double negatives is bad English. This myth is included by Patricia O'Conner in a list of "bogus or worn out rules". She advises readers to avoid certain uses (such as "I didn't do nothing") but not to completely remove the double negative from our English toolboxes when constructing prose. O'Connor provides the following as acceptable examples: "It's not inconceivable. She's not unappealing." Paul Brians, who affirms that "It is not true, as some assert, that double negatives are always wrong," provides the following as a humorous example:
One of the funniest uses of the literary double negative is Douglas Adams' description of a machine dispensing "a substance almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea."
Typography
Misconception: Two spaces must follow each sentence. Placing two word spaces between sentences is a typewriterTypewriter
A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the pieces...
convention that has carried over into the age of digital media. Most style guide
Style guide
A style guide or style manual is a set of standards for the writing and design of documents, either for general use or for a specific publication, organization or field...
s recommend only a single space between sentences
Sentence spacing in language and style guides
Sentence spacing guidance is provided in many language and style guides. The majority of style guides that use a Latin-derived alphabet as a language base prescribe or recommend the use of a single space after the concluding punctuation of a sentence in final written works and publications...
. Professionally published books, magazines, and newspapers also use a single space between sentences, but even this is widely overlooked.
Misconception: Every paragraph
Paragraph
A paragraph is a self-contained unit of a discourse in writing dealing with a particular point or idea. A paragraph consists of one or more sentences. The start of a paragraph is indicated by beginning on a new line. Sometimes the first line is indented...
must be indented. Professionally printed material does not always have an indented first paragraph. Robert Bringhurst
Robert Bringhurst
Robert Bringhurst is a Canadian poet, typographer and author. He is the author of The Elements of Typographic Style – a reference book of typefaces, glyphs and the visual and geometric arrangement of type...
states that we should "Set opening paragraphs flush left" and explains as follows: "The function of a paragraph is to mark a pause, setting the paragraph apart from what precedes it. If a paragraph is preceded by a title or subhead, the indent is superfluous and can therefore be omitted."
Misconception: Hyphens and dashes have the same meaning. According to David Jury, "a prevailing lack of typographic knowledge mean[s] that the hyphen is, today, commonly used for all dashes, just as it was when this was due to the technical limitations of the typewriter." These characters "all have different purposes, but they are often confused and misused".
Misconception: Straight quotation marks (or "dumb" quotes) are the same as quotation marks. According to Ilene Strizver, "Misuse of 'dumb' quotes is one of the most common typographical faux pas, which is repeatedly found in high-end print, multimedia advertising, movie credits, as well as non-professional work." These "refugees from the typewriter keyboard ... have no typographic function". Unlike "smart" modern text-editing software, typewriters cannot differentiate the beginning of a quote from the end and simply produce straight quotes when the quote key is pressed. Computer code, email, and other plain-text computer media typically use "dumb" quotes as well, because curved quotation marks are not included in the ASCII
ASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...
character set.
Usage
Misconception: ParagraphParagraph
A paragraph is a self-contained unit of a discourse in writing dealing with a particular point or idea. A paragraph consists of one or more sentences. The start of a paragraph is indicated by beginning on a new line. Sometimes the first line is indented...
s must comprise at least three sentences. This is an English myth. Richard Nordquist
Richard Nordquist
Richard Nordquist is an American author. His works include Writing Exercises and Passages: A Writer's Guide—both "grammar and composition textbooks for college freshmen".- Life :...
states that "no rule exists regarding the number of sentences that make up a paragraph," noting that professional writers use "paragraphs as short as a single word". According to the Oxford Guide to Plain English,
If you can say what you want to say in a single sentence that lacks a direct connection with any other sentence, just stop there and go on to a new paragraph. There's no rule against it. A paragraph can be a single sentence, whether long, short, or middling.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
Writing Center states on its website, "Many students define paragraphs in terms of length: a paragraph is a group of at least five sentences, a paragraph is half a page long, etc." The website explains, "Length and appearance do not determine whether a section in a paper is a paragraph. For instance, in some styles of writing, particularly journalistic styles, a paragraph can be just one sentence long." Many of history's greatest writers used one and two sentence paragraphs in their works.
Misconception: Contractions
Contraction (grammar)
A contraction is a shortened version of the written and spoken forms of a word, syllable, or word group, created by omission of internal letters....
aren't appropriate in proper English. Bill Walsh lists this as one of the "big myths of English usage" and Patricia O'Connor and Stewart Kellerman write, "A lot of people ... still seem to think that contractions are not quite ... quite. If you do too, you're quite wrong." Writers such as Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
, and others since Anglo-Saxon days have been "shrinking English." Some of the opinion makers in the 17th and 18th century eschewed contractions, but beginning in the 1920s, usage guides have allowed them. "Most writing handbooks now recommend contractions," but "there are still lots of traditionalists out there who haven't gotten the word," contributing to the modern myth that contractions are forbidden usage.
Misconception: "I feel badly" is the correct negative response to "How do you feel?" According to Paul Brians in Common Errors in English Usage, " 'I feel bad' is standard English," and " 'I feel badly' is an incorrect hyper-correction by people who think they know better than the masses."
Misconception: The phrase "begs the question" is synonymous with "raises the question." "Begging the question"
Begging the question
Begging the question is a type of logical fallacy in which the proposition to be proven is assumed implicitly or explicitly in the premise....
is a logical fallacy, but "most people now suppose the phrase implies something quite different: that the argument demands that a question about it be asked—raises the question," says Paul Brians. However, Merriam-Webster dictionaries allow both meanings.
Semantics
Misconception: "Irregardless
Irregardless
Irregardless is an informal term commonly used in place of regardless or irrespective, which has caused controversy since it first appeared in the early twentieth century...
" is not a word. Merriam-Webster
Merriam-Webster
Merriam–Webster, which was originally the G. & C. Merriam Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, is an American company that publishes reference books, especially dictionaries that are descendants of Noah Webster’s An American Dictionary of the English Language .Merriam-Webster Inc. has been a...
states that, "The most frequently repeated remark about it is that 'there is no such word.' " According to Mignon Fogarty, this is an English myth. "You shouldn't use it if you want to be taken seriously, but it has gained wide enough use to qualify as a word."
Misconception: "Inflammable" means something that cannot burn. " 'Flammable' and 'inflammable' both mean 'easy to catch on fire,' but so many people misunderstand the latter term that it's better to stick with 'flammable' in safety warnings," says Paul Brians.
Misconception: "Nauseous" cannot mean suffering from nausea. Some writers on language, such as Theodore Bernstein and Bill Bryson, have advanced the idea that "nauseous" means only causing nausea (synonymous with "nauseating") not suffering from it (which would be "nauseated"), and therefore it is incorrect to say "I am nauseous" (unless you mean to say "I inspire nausea in others"). This prescription is contradicted by vast evidence from English usage, and Merriam-Webster finds no source for the rule prior to a published letter by a physician, Deborah Leary, in 1949.
Misconception: "Xmas
Xmas
"Xmas" is a common abbreviation of the word "Christmas". It is sometimes pronounced , but it, and variants such as "Xtemass", originated as handwriting abbreviations for the typical pronunciation...
" is a secular plan to "take the Christ out of Christmas." "The usual suggestion is that 'Xmas' is ... an attempt by the ungodly to x-out Jesus and banish religion from the holiday." However, X stands for the Greek letter Chi
Chi (letter)
Chi is the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet, pronounced as in English.-Greek:-Ancient Greek:Its value in Ancient Greek was an aspirated velar stop .-Koine Greek:...
, the starting letter of Χριστός, or "Christ" in Greek. (Also see the related Chi Rho
Chi Rho
The Chi Rho is one of the earliest forms of christogram, and is used by Christians. It is formed by superimposing the first two letters chi and rho of the Greek word "ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ" =Christ in such a way to produce the monogram ☧...
symbol.) The use of the word "Xmas" can be traced to the year 1021 when "monks in Great Britain...used the X while transcribing classical manuscripts into Old English" in place of "Christ". The Oxford English Dictionary's "first recorded use of 'Xmas' for 'Christmas' dates back to 1551." Paul Brians adds that, "so few people know this that it is probably better not to use this popular abbreviation in religious contexts."
See also
- Linguistic prescriptionLinguistic prescriptionIn linguistics, prescription denotes normative practices on such aspects of language use as spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and syntax. It includes judgments on what usages are socially proper and politically correct...
- List of English words with disputed usage
- Split infinitiveSplit infinitiveA split infinitive is an English-language grammatical construction in which a word or phrase, usually an adverb or adverbial phrase, comes between the marker to and the bare infinitive form of a verb....