As I’ve started texting more people in Britain and communicating with them through various digital means, I started noticing something strange: People kept added ‘x’ or ‘xx’ or even ‘xxx’ to the end of their messages. I could not comprehend it. In one conversation specifically, there were so many letter x’s that I started to wonder if my friend had set ‘xx’ as her signature when she messaged people.
I floated along entirely oblivious until someone finally clarified the situation for me. I remember the question exactly, because it was such a weird one: “Why don’t you ever use kisses in your messages?” “What.” Then came the explanation. Apparently, these various x’s are called ‘kisses.’ Similar to emojis, they are used at the end of messages to convey tone. Specifically a light-hearted and friendly tone. It’s how British people overcome the tonal difficulties of digital messaging. For example, a short sentence (like “Where are you?”) could be seen as abrasive. The ‘x’ or multiple x’s softens the message (making it “Where are you? xx”). The number of x’s also changes the meaning. Typically, the more x’s, the sweeter the message. While not always used, in a familiar setting they are the default for many. Luckily for me, if you don’t use them people understand why rather than feel offended. What is so cool about this to me, though, is that I’ve never seen it in America. I could explain it to any number of my American friends and they will have never heard of it. I don’t know if x’s are used in other countries, but I do know it is a modern linguistic colloquialism that has not reached across the ocean. In order to assimilate to the British culture, I have attempted to use these x’s when I feel so moved in conversation. It still seems a little silly to me, but now that I understand why these x’s are there, the tone of the conversations has drastically improved. It’s incredible how communication can develop so differently. Kisses are probably my favorite difference between the two countries so far just because of how specific it is. So until my next post, Xxx.
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Amy Golden
Amy will be spending the academic year at the University of Sunderland in England studying journalism. Archives
February 2018
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