X' and O's - History

[Guest guest]

History of Hugs and Kisses by Wendy Maynard on the April 20th, 2005

 

 

 

A bit off topic, but interesting nonetheless. Sometimes, I put “xo” before my

name as an expression of affection. Today, a friend asked me, “so are X’s kisses

and O’s hugs or is it the other way around?” Being the research junkie that I

am, I decided to look up the history of the symbols. Here’s what I found on

Wikipedia:

 

“Hugs and Kisses” is a term for a sequence of the letters X and O, e.g. XOXO,

typically used by lovers to denote at the end of a written letter or email. X

represents a kiss, O a hug.

 

“The use of xoxo goes back to the use of an “X” or cross, which was considered

as good as a sworn oath in times before most people could write and therefore

used the x in the same way a signature is used today. A mark of your word.

 

An x at the end of a letter or document was often kissed as a seal of honesty,

in much the same way one would kiss a bible or kiss the fingers after making the

sign of the cross, thus the x came to represent a kiss in modern times.

 

The origins of the “O” as a hug are not generally known, although it is

speculated that it may represent the arms wrapped around someone being hugged.

Another thought is that it came from Jewish immigrants who would sign with an

“O” instead of an x because they did not wish to mark their word with the

obviously non-Jewish cross the x represented.”

 

http://wendy.kinesisinc.com/?m=200504 & paged=2

 

 

 

 

" The cat did not respond. She did not believe in paraphrasing anybody. If

people pursued this same feline wisdom, there'd be a lot fewer

misunderstandings. "

From Kinky Friedman's

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

very interesting!