X's and O's

This morning the little girls and I
were having a serious discussion over
breakfast about the uses of "X's"
and "O's".  The hotly debated question
was whether the "X" was a hug or a
kiss.  One of us was leaning
toward "X" being the kiss (me),
the others  were leaning towards
the "X" being a hug.(girls) 
Of course, since I am older and
wiser, I may have had a
slight leg up on them.

Ok, I am mostly just older--
you can just scratch the wiser part.

I also tend to be a frequent user
of "X's" and "O's" while texting.
And emailing.

I like to visually "spread my love"
to those I know, and have been
known to end many a text (or email)
to both family and friend
with a repeated line of
"XOXOXOXOXO". 

Cuz who doesn't LOVE a little LOVE?


Here is what we found on the good
old Internet about "X's" and "O's"
and their origin.  We thought it
was an interesting morning read
and wanted to share it with all
of you (just in case you were as
confused as we were.)

Which you probably weren't.

And with it being the season
of love (Valentines Day coming up
and all.)

Here ya go:

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 one's 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 Christian 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 Christian cross the X represented.

Have a great day!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO