6 ms·

The use of the Unicode code points can actually help in disambiguating here. For regular letters, you have to be very careful about which contexts to accept rom

The use of the Unicode code points can actually help in disambiguating here. For regular letters, you have to be very careful about which contexts to accept roman numerals in, otherwise you'll suddenly get numbers read for words like "CD" and "IV" and for lowercase letters even words like "mix" (Older Unix users may remember the joke about upgrading from vi to xv). And then there are cardinal vs ordinal contexts: Mac OS X -> "ten" Pope John X -> "the tenth" Malcolm X -> "ex" King's X -> "cross" X-mas -> "christ" X-ing -> "cross" 10 X 2 -> "by" or "times"

throw0101b 4y ago
> X-mas -> "christ" Technically: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_(letter) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_(letter) > The 'X' comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Christós (Greek: Χριστός, translit. Khristós, lit. "anointed, covered in oil"), which became Christ in English.[1] The suffix -mas is from the Latin-derived Old English word for Mass.[2] * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmas
- account42 4y ago
  Interesting, but in popular usage "ex" might be more correct since the main reason for writing "X-mas" instead of Christmas is an attempt to distance the holiday from religion.
  - reaperducer 4y ago
    the main reason for writing "X-mas" instead of Christmas is an attempt to distance the holiday from religion. That's internet revisionist history. The real reason was to save space in writing. "X" as an abbreviation for Christ is very common in Christianity, and has been for a couple of thousand years now. Even Roman Catholic priests' robes have "ΧΡ" on them as an abbreviation for "Christ."† † https://www.catholic.com/qa/what-does-the-symbol-of-the-p-with-an-x-through-the-bottom-of-it-mean https://www.catholic.com/qa/what-does-the-symbol-of-the-p-wi...
    - lstamour 4y ago
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_Rho https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_Rho Even the abbreviation has a history. And a couple Unicode symbols: and ⳩ (weirdly, one displays in HN and the other does not.)
Joker_vD 4y ago
Wait, "X-ing" means "crossing"? Now those nonsensical "XING PED" road writings make more sense: I thought it was weird to have some random Chinese or Vietnamese phrase written in Latin on a road in the US of all places... but it's just short for "crossing pedestrians", right? Although on the other hand, now that I think of it, what's wrong with the zebra crossing?
- thechao 4y ago
  https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/ten_thousand.png https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/ten_thousand.png
- cjbgkagh 4y ago
  I assume you mean why not have road markings rather than the signage. Sometimes road markings disappear in rain and the bright lights reflecting off the road can mess up the contrast. I had a hard time navigating Seattle due to the inability to see road markings, it seemed that everyone else knew where to go (and not go) from previous experience so I would follow the traffic. But sometimes there was no traffic either… EDIT: Not sure what I did to elicit so many downvotes on a personal anecdote. I was not advocating the exclusive use a PED XING sign just giving a situation where zebra crossing markings may be insufficient.
  - account42 4y ago
    I have never seen PED XING used (don't live in the US) but from a quick image search it is used for both signage and road markings. In either both cases there are more intuitively understandable options - a literal (zebra) crossing drawn on the road or a sign of a crossing pedestrian. That this doesn't seem to be widely adopted accross the world and that searching returns many people asking WTF it means reinforces that idea.
    - davchana 4y ago
      I too saw them ever in US only. Most of these have multiple set of signs. PED XING on Road as an early warning. A metal sign post on the side depicting a pedestrian. Then the actual White Lines, the crossing. Similar text examples on road are like STOP AHEAD, SCHOOL AREA, RIGHT ONLY, LEFT ONLY, FWY NNN etc.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

throw0101b 4y ago

> X-mas -> "christ" Technically: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_(letter) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_(letter) > The 'X' comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Christós (Greek: Χριστός, translit. Khristós, lit. "anointed, covered in oil"), which became Christ in English.[1] The suffix -mas is from the Latin-derived Old English word for Mass.[2] * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmas

account42 4y ago
Interesting, but in popular usage "ex" might be more correct since the main reason for writing "X-mas" instead of Christmas is an attempt to distance the holiday from religion.
- reaperducer 4y ago
  the main reason for writing "X-mas" instead of Christmas is an attempt to distance the holiday from religion. That's internet revisionist history. The real reason was to save space in writing. "X" as an abbreviation for Christ is very common in Christianity, and has been for a couple of thousand years now. Even Roman Catholic priests' robes have "ΧΡ" on them as an abbreviation for "Christ."† † https://www.catholic.com/qa/what-does-the-symbol-of-the-p-with-an-x-through-the-bottom-of-it-mean https://www.catholic.com/qa/what-does-the-symbol-of-the-p-wi...
  - lstamour 4y ago
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_Rho https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi_Rho Even the abbreviation has a history. And a couple Unicode symbols: and ⳩ (weirdly, one displays in HN and the other does not.)

Joker_vD 4y ago

Wait, "X-ing" means "crossing"? Now those nonsensical "XING PED" road writings make more sense: I thought it was weird to have some random Chinese or Vietnamese phrase written in Latin on a road in the US of all places... but it's just short for "crossing pedestrians", right? Although on the other hand, now that I think of it, what's wrong with the zebra crossing?

thechao 4y ago
https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/ten_thousand.png https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/ten_thousand.png
cjbgkagh 4y ago
I assume you mean why not have road markings rather than the signage. Sometimes road markings disappear in rain and the bright lights reflecting off the road can mess up the contrast. I had a hard time navigating Seattle due to the inability to see road markings, it seemed that everyone else knew where to go (and not go) from previous experience so I would follow the traffic. But sometimes there was no traffic either… EDIT: Not sure what I did to elicit so many downvotes on a personal anecdote. I was not advocating the exclusive use a PED XING sign just giving a situation where zebra crossing markings may be insufficient.
- account42 4y ago
  I have never seen PED XING used (don't live in the US) but from a quick image search it is used for both signage and road markings. In either both cases there are more intuitively understandable options - a literal (zebra) crossing drawn on the road or a sign of a crossing pedestrian. That this doesn't seem to be widely adopted accross the world and that searching returns many people asking WTF it means reinforces that idea.
  - davchana 4y ago
    I too saw them ever in US only. Most of these have multiple set of signs. PED XING on Road as an early warning. A metal sign post on the side depicting a pedestrian. Then the actual White Lines, the crossing. Similar text examples on road are like STOP AHEAD, SCHOOL AREA, RIGHT ONLY, LEFT ONLY, FWY NNN etc.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]