OXO

Posted by Brian from Shawnee on January 25, 2006

In Reply to: OXO posted by Bob on January 25, 2006

: : : What does OXO on the end of a letter mean?

: : It means "hugs and kisses". The O's are the hugs, and the X's are the kisses.

: They are iconic symbols. The shape of the letter X looks a little like two pairs of lips > and < kissing: X. Putting x on the bottom of a letter is an old tradition, but I can't say how old. Adding O's to represent hugs is more recent, I believe. In my lifetime. Anybody able to pin it down more closely? (The O is a visualization, also. See two pairs of arms wrapped around each other, forming an O.)

There's a website called Hugkiss.com that gives a little background, but they fail to come up with a date for O's as hugs although they list a few theories. They give 1901 as the date for X's as kisses.

• OXO ESC 25/January/06