WIBU to ask that people spell Hallowe'en properly?

[FreshBloodandGutsLeticia]

Please?

Oh great I killed the thread with pedantry. Go me!

It is an x with a p through it. X and p are the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek.

Hence 'xpistos' as a common medieval Latin spelling of Christ.

Why xmas isn't xpmas I'm not sure, except maybe because it'd be dead clunky to say.

Are you two competing?

I love a good pedantic thread.

Also I notice the xp thing because I always want to say it 'ex-pee' not 'k-r'.

Ha no because LRD would win but I think we should start a uni.

MN uni would be great. We'd teach the finer nuances of pointless pedantry.

Oh yes indeed. That's me off on one, I'll be trying to work whom into conversation tomorrow.

Why is there an apostrophe in Hallowe'en though? If you can clearly explain its (it's?) purpose to me, then I promise to use it from now on.

Ooh yes. I'll whom away. Possibly incorrectly.

mum - cos it's an abbreviation. Even is the old word for evening. 'Hallow even' = Hallowe'en'.

Thank you LRD, I thought it was something like that. I will call it Hallowe'en from now on.

I think e'en is a Scots word (abbreviation of even as LRD points out). In Scots, I think the apostrophe would normally be there, but the word has been anglicised in Halloween. I am fond of the Scots punctuation with the apostrophe.

It's still Hallowe'en where I am. I discovered today that there is an actual word for fear of Hallowe'en. It is Samhainophobia. I love that.

That is awesome.