First Sentence of a First Draft
Posted by Moose on April 5th, 2007. Filed under: My Brain Needs a Drink.Hair was the world’s first rock musical, so I guess you have it to blame for Jesus Christ Superstar.
This is [one of the many reasons] why I get in trouble at work.
Speaking of work, my boss has a request for you. We hope the internet knows more than we do, because neither of us can answer this burning question. When people sign an email with xoxo – which is the hug and which is the kiss? We have many finely honed arguments but no definitive answer.
Anyone? Anyone?
(Wikipedia doesn’t seem to know either. For those of you who, like me, are looking to shamelessly cheat.)
(Edit: Our business manager just breezed through and, hearing me relate an answer from the lovely Jenn, said “Of course the x is the kiss. Everyone knows that.” So, clearly, the boss shouldn’t be asking me these things. Or perhaps anything. I still can’t fix a dangling modifier, even though it’s been a job requirement for, oh, five years now.)
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April 5th, 2007 at 10:37 am
The kiss is the x. I don’t know why I know this, but I’m convinced that knowing useless crap like this is why I can’t do math.
April 5th, 2007 at 10:47 am
Indeed. Think of the “O” as a big “O” you make with your arms as you hug someone. And then the “X” as that little scrunchy thing you do with your lips as you kiss in that godawful European style. (Not you specifically, the hypothetical you.)
April 5th, 2007 at 10:51 am
I vote for the X being the kiss.
The O being the hug.
I’ve always thought that. Maybe b/c the O looks like arms hugging? Or maybe the X looks like it has arms. I don’t know. Keep us posted, but I vote for X kiss; O hug.
April 5th, 2007 at 11:29 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugs_and_Kisses
c’mon
of COURSE wikipedia knows…..
heee.
April 5th, 2007 at 11:36 am
btw – how SHOULD that sentence have been constructed? I would have said,
Hair was the world’s first rock musical, so I guess you have to blame bad precident for Jesus Christ Superstar (unless you like hippie musicals performed by folks with long hair singing the lines to 60′s and 70′s music and then rock on with your badself – and Jesus! and the hippies!).
unless of course you weren’t being critical…
(doh!)
April 5th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
Duh!!! The X is obviously the hug, people! Crossed arms. And the O stands for “obicularis oris” the muscle around your mouth. I can’t believe all of y’all are so ignorant.
April 5th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Suebob is completely correct. X is the hug, and it is because of the crossed arms. For some reason I have a feeling that this is information I got from reading the Samantha Parkington American Girl books. Also, when I was eight my sister informed me that the O was because it was an open mouth kiss, prompting me to be severely scandalized by the appearance of XOXO on any letter/note/postcard recieved through junior high.
April 6th, 2007 at 5:22 am
You’re all wrong. The X stands for “wine” and the O stands for “beer.” Although in certain circumstances X can refer to “lager” and O to “ale.”
We Canadians have so much to teach the world.
April 6th, 2007 at 9:09 am
OK, I have to weigh in on this.
Back in the 50s, when I was actually signing notes/letters this way, the x was DEFINITELY the kiss.
April 6th, 2007 at 9:58 am
Briefly commenting on the xoxo deal, since I sign email that way and actually say it as well, x is a kiss.
So if we’re blaming JCSuperstar on Hair then are we also blaming Bye Bye Birdie, Rent, Making Tracks, Altar Boyz, Footloose, Movin Out, Jersey Boys, Spring Awakening, and the Wedding Singer on it as well?
April 6th, 2007 at 11:44 am
I’ve always thought that the O was shaped like your lips are when you kiss someone, so that O is the kiss. And the X is like the shape that two people’s arms would be when they hug each other, so it’s the hug.
April 6th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
This post is beginning to make me wonder, who ever thought X and O looked like a hug and a kiss either way?
April 6th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
I’ve always heard that the X was a kiss and the O a hug, for essentially the same reasons Greg mentions. Hugs are encircling (circle = O).
If it’s otherwise, the bedrock of my world will be shaken. Please don’t shake my bedrock, I have so little to cling to.
April 9th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
I really think the O is the kiss. Like an open mouth. It’s a big open-mouthed kiss. I’m pretty sure.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
I wrote a TV segment about Valentine’s day. And the X represents a kiss.
This tradition started with the Medieval practice of allowing those who could not write to sign documents with an “X”. This was done before witnesses, and the signer placed a kiss upon the “X” to show sincerity. This is how the kiss came to be synonymous with the letter “X”, and how the “X” came to be commonly used at the end of letters as kiss symbols. (Some believed “X” was chosen as a variation on the cross symbol, while others believe it might have been a pledge in the name of Christ, since the “X” or Chi symbol, is the second letter of the Greek alphabet and has been used in church history to represent Christ.)
I don’t know why the “O” is a hug. But I like the wine and beer explanation.
December 10th, 2007 at 4:19 am
umm well i think that x means a hug because chicks say xxxx at the end of messages all the time. i’ve never been kissed by them but i have been hugged many times so i can only assume that it means hug