def x_ian(x, word):
    """
    Given a string x, returns True if all the letters in x are
    contained in word in the same order as they appear in x.

    >>> x_ian('eric', 'meritocracy')
    True
    >>> x_ian('eric', 'cerium')
    False
    >>> x_ian('john', 'mahjong')
    False

    x: a string
    word: a string
    returns: True if word is x_ian, False otherwise
    """
    if len(x) == 1:
        return x in word
    else:
        if word.find(x[0]) > word.find(x[1]):
            return False
        else:
            try:
                return x_ian(x[1:], word[word.index(x[0]):])
            except ValueError:
                return False