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Subject: [FOLKLORE] Today's Trivia Question:
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2000 13:46:33 EDT
Today's Trivia Question:
Why do a series of X's at the end of a letter - "XXX" - stand
for kisses?
The Answer:
X was the kiss of death for me in school. It appeared often,
in a shameful shade of red, on my short-answer exams,
informing me that I was wrong yet again. X is emblazoned on
my memory as a scarlet letter, a reminder of my errant ways.
But I realize that for many people X just signifies kissy-
kissy. How did they come by this peculiar notion? Most
people in the Middle Ages were illiterate and signed
documents with an "X." Because of its cross-like
appearance, people often kissed the X, as one might kiss a
Bible, to show that their signature was solemn and sincere.
That's how X's got to mean kisses.
Related to illiteracy: How do you like that! My relationship
to the letter X was in the mainstream all along!
(Source: EVER WONDER WHY? by Douglas B. Smith)
FAST FACTS:
In the year 1000 A. D., the Grand Vizier of Persia had to
make a long journey. He was an avid reader and the idea of
even temporarily being away from his library of 117,000 books
was too much to bear. So he had his books loaded on 400
camels and had the animals trained to stay in alphabetical
order in the caravan.
The camels knew their ABC's, but unfortunately couldn't
spell. Several of them misread one word in a road sign,
collided with the beasts in front of them, and spilled their
books onto the desert sand. The sign that tripped up the
camels read, "Caution: BUMP!"
(Source: A HISTORY OF READING) >>
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