HAPPY CHRIMBO! / MERRY XMAS!: Some quirks about the word 'Christmas'

From: https://keepcalms.com/p/keep-calm-and-say-happy-chrimbo/

Long time not see (once again)!

Christmas hols are finally here and I find some time to reprise my writing! First of all, Merry Christmas for everyone: I hope that all of you have got to celebrate it with your loved ones, taking all the necessary precautions. 

Today, I'll be writing a short post about the word Christmas and its variants. I just happen to love the word and it has a good story behind it!

Let's begin:

1) From a morphological point of view, the word 'Christmas' comes from the words 'Christ' and the Old English word for 'mass' (church service). It is a singular word (even though it finishes in -s). This is seen in expressions such as 'Christmas IS fun'. So, unlike in Spanish, the word 'Christmas' is English is normally preceeded by an indefinite article and it is countable: 'I wish you a merry Christmas'.  It has a plural: 'Christmases', which is not frequently used. 

Moreover, the word 'Christmas' has an adjective that can be spelt in two different ways: 'Christmasy' and 'Christmassy'. 

2) From a grammatical point of view, remember that the Christmas season is preceeded by the preposition 'at': 'I always eat a lot at Christmas'. However, each individual day within the Christmas season is preceeded by the preposition 'on': 'I love receiving my presents ON Christmas Day.

3) From a phonetical perspective, it's interesting to know that the word 'Christ' has a diphthong:  /kraɪst/, which is lost in the word 'Christmas', whose 't' is silent: /ˈkrɪsməs/

4) Christmas has a wide-known abbreviation: 'Xmas'. This abbreviation has nothing to do with letter 'x' but with letter 'chi' (a Greek letter similar to Spanish 'j'). There are some religious people against this abbreviation as it has elided the word 'Christ' and all its meaning and this is why some people just tend to use the abbreviation to refer to the commercial side of Christmas. In a nutshell:

- Christmas: Full word that keeps the religious origin of the festivity.

- Xmas:  Abbreviated word that doesn't have much of the religious origin but it is a good alternative for the sake of the linguistic economy, used to refer to the non-secular side of Christmas: presents, consumerism, snow...

In any case, the abbreaviation is out and about and has come to stay...

From: https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/christmas-background-merry-xmas-sale-holiday-web-vector-27080443

5) Christmas has two British hypocorisms (nicknames that shows affection or closeness): 'Chrimbo' (or 'Crimbo')  and 'Crimble'. Apparently, 'Crimble' appeared first and it was John Lennon made the word 'Chrimbo' popular.

So, I hope you have learnt some quirks about the word Christmas. I hope you enjoy this wonderful festivity! Happy Chrimbo!

See you around

Learning English during the Covid-19 outbreak

Image taken from: https://www.redaccionmedica.com/secciones/neumologia/el-covid-19-frente-a-la-gripe-y-otros-coronavirus-ojo-a-las-comorbilidades-8526

Hello there!
I hope all of you  are fine and I hope this virus hasn't caused you so much trouble....I'm just coping with this situation. It's been literally ages since I wrote a blog entry. Being a parent is hard work and basically you don't have any spare time... What has it taken for me to resume my writing? Well, a world's pandemic disease. After being in confinement for a month, I have taken matters into my own hands and I have decided to resume my writing, as I had tucked my blog away...  Anyway, to deal with this unbearable situation, I have decided to resume my writing devoting this entry to Covid-19. How original! Right?
My firm resolution with this entry is that you all can express what you are going through in English, i.e. that you can learn some vocabulary, pharases and expressions related to the situation we are going through. Ready?

- Covid 19 is a pandemic disease that has affected the world on a global scale. 

- Covid 19 is not a new virus, but, rather, a new strain of the Covid family.

- The outbreak of this virus started in Spain on January, 31st. 

- At first, no one was worried because it was deemed to be just like a normal flu. However, its mortality rate so far has surpassed all the foreseeable expectations. The virus manifests through flu-like symptoms like dry cough, high temperature or fever, dyspnea and other breathing difficulties. 

- Although the virus mortality rate is not high, it is particularly aggresive and even deadly among the elderly and people with previous health conditions. 

- It's highly contagious! We all need to act in order to prevent it from further spreading. To prevent its spread, some containment measures are necessary: you must wash your hands regularly with soap and water; when coughing or sneezing, use disposable tissues and cover your mouth with your arm or elbow; stay in as much as possible and only go out when it is absolutely necessary, and avoid unnecessary travels. 

- On March, 9th, all on-site classes were suspended and by March, 11th, telework was highly recommended and prioritized. 

- Right now we are under strict confinement given that the state of emergency has been declared. That means, you can't be out and about unless you have a compelling reason: to commute to work, to buy supplies or groceries, to take the dog out for a (short) walk... In some other countries like Italy, some villages were under quarantine; that means no one could get in or out. However, curfew (a certain time, at which people must strictly be at home) hasn't yet been declared.

- This virus has caused countless downsides to people's lives and to the global economy, among others the loss and destruction of jobs and our health system is on the brink of collapsing, with our doctors, nurses and other staff overworking without proper personal protective equipment, risking their lives, because of the shortage of certain goods like gloves or facial masks. However, it has also triggered off people's solidarity. This virus seems to be bringing out the best in people: a lot of citizens are helping by sewing favcial masks, others are helping their elderly neighbours by going shopping for them; some people are putting culture at the citizens' disposal for free...

- On the plus side, thanks to this virus, we are realizing how lucky we were before when we could hug each other, see our relatives or even hang out with friends... In order for our lives to go back to normal, we must do our bit by following the containment measures dictated by the government or helping people in need... 

I hope you have learned a lot of vocab and expressions to explain this awful situation. Remember that confinement gives you the perfect opportunity to learn English! If you want to do so, have a look at my current teaching blog, my old teaching blog, my webpage to practise your listening and my webpage to practise your English grammar. 

See you soon. In the meantime, please, stay safe, ALIVE AND KICKING! 

P.S PLEASE, POST A COMMENT TO SAY HI OR IF YOU KNOW MORE EXPRESSIONS INVOLVING THIS SITUATION!