i was writing my Girlfriend a letter and i wrote XOXO. and i thought… witch Means hug and witch means kiss, x or o ? how did this come to exist? What is the curtual orgin? is x hug because we say hugs and kisses and it comes first , or is o kiss because it looks like a mouth or is o hug because it looks like arms wraped around somone, or is x kiss because it looks like a pucker? Somone please give there opinon, And support it with evidence , or logic
the X looks like a pucker, so it’s most likely the kiss and O is the hug because when you hug someone you usually encompass their body with a o like formation with your arms. How much sense am I making?
General consensus among the parties of brain suggest that the X is symbolic of a target. “X marks the spot” even. As such, a kiss is a direct impact of two lips on the target.
Therefore Kiss = X
X is kiss and O is hug.
When very few people could read and write, many would make the mark of St. Andrews cross (an X) instead of signing their name. They would then kiss the X to show their good faith and the importance of the mark, and basically saying “I swear to uphold this, in the name of Christ.” That’s how X came to represent a kiss.
As the O is a North American tradition, there isn’t much background to it. But like c-squared said, the O represents arms circling the other person, therefore it represents a hug.
Here’s an interesting tidbit - though most illiterate folk would sign their name with an X, Jewish immigrants preferred to sign with and O, to avoid signing something that looks like a cross. And, many shopkeepers would sign and O instead of an X, for whatever reason.