XXX

In the U.K. at least, XXX is traditionally written at the end of a letter to a close friend or to loved ones to represent kisses. It would be quite rude to send a Birthday or Christmas card that was devoid of the obligatory XXX, and most people have an XXX addition to their signature for such occasions.

It is common for family tiffs to begin a spate of kiss ranking, where less than the statutory three X's can be seen as a slight. By the opposite reasoning a single solitary X is sometimes used between lovers to express a singular well considered and intended kiss, rather than the implied production line of air kisses.

A variation on the xxx symbol from Canada includes the addition of O's to apparently represent hugs like so: XOXOX. Whether the X symbol marks the spot on the paper where the kiss was planted, or it is a vague attempt at expressing the sound of a peck on the cheek, is unclear. personally the three little Xs bring boyhood memories of the over enthusiastically puckered lips of aged aunties to mind. The tradition of XXX persists in email and text messages, even though the inclusion can cause over zealous spam filters to ensure that the message is never received. I have heard unconfirmed rumour that certain primitive spell checkers had a nasty tendency to convert the string 'xxx' into 'expect sex' with disastrous consequences if the letter to granny got sent without the change being noticed.

Tifrap XXX