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(word) == 1:
        return word in x
    if word[0] in x:
        return x_ian(x[x.index(word[0]) + 1:], word[1:])
    else:
        return False