For the A to Z Challenge, I have chosen the theme of characters. On my normal blogging days, Monday – parenting, Wednesday – quotes, and Thursday – writing/publishing, I will focus on characteristics. On the other days (Tuesday, Friday and Saturday), I will write about characters from movies, TVs or books.
Today on the A to Z blogging challenge, the letter is X. Oh my, the letter X is always a hard one. I was trying to stick to characteristics for the days I write on a writing/publishing topic but I could not think of one that began with X.
So instead, I am writing about the short hand for hugs and kisses – XOXO. This is most commonly used at the end of letters, text or e-mails to express love, sincerity of friendship.
The X represents kisses and the O hugs.
Signing letters with an X dates back to the Middle Ages. For those who could not read or write, this was an easy way to sign documents. The X represented the Christian Cross so basically they were signing “In Christ’s name, I assert this is true.” Some who signed with then kiss the “cross.”
The history of O representing hugs is less clear. There are some who say it started in replace of the X by members of the Jewish communities in North America who needed to sign a document. Of course how that came to mean hugs under that theory is very unclear. Rather some people think the O means hugs because it looks like two sets of arms in a hug.
If you missed the other days in the A to Z Challenge:
A is for Alice
B is for Belgarath
C is for Cautious Child
D is for Dana Scully
E is for Enthusiasm (Quote) and Southwestern Eggrolls (Recipe)
F is for Flaky Character
G is for Gandalf
H is for Huckleberry Finn
I is for Independence
J is for Jason Bourne
K is for Kind (Quote)
L is for Lazy Characters
M is for Merlin
N is for Nancy Clancy
O is for Organized
P is for Puss in Boots
Q is for Quiet
R is for Rebellious Characters
S is for Sherlock Holmes
T is for Thor
U is for Unselfish
V is for Voldemort
W is for Wise (Quote)
Into Another World 