[英文筆記] The X at the end

The X at the end of the letter, email, etc.
What does that mean when you see people write an X at the end of letter like this.

Judy
x

or even like this,

Judy
xx

According to my friend's explanation, who is a native English speaker living in Bristol, England.

X at the end of e mails cards etc it stands for a kiss. Here we often greet friends and say good bye with a kiss on the cheek. In England it is usually men and women and women to women. Though in continental Euriope it is also men and men.

It may not like what you see at the TV show for OXOX. (Hug and Kiss)

However, I do find some other interesting fact for the kiss on the cheek.
For me, a girl from Asia, I am glad that I have adapt to that since I joined so many scouting events, including all the friends from almost every single corner around the world.
But my friends around are always interesting about how many times exactly you will need to be polite, but not over it.

Well, there's no correct answer for sure, personally, the friends I met in Germany, we usually kiss twice. And men don't kiss each other. In England, it may be once or twice.
Then, how about the French? You may check this article of the blog.
French Kissing: Just how many cheek kisses to give

This might give you some hints about that. ;-)

信件或是電子郵件文末在署名底下的X代表什麼意思？
例：
Judy
x
或是這樣
Judy
xx

當初在跟英國朋友通信的時候，常常看到X出現在署名的後面，可是我卻一直不是很明白這樣的用法是什麼意思和適用的情況，直到有一天我終於受不了直接問他，詢問得到的回覆如下：

在信件或是電子郵件文末的X代表的意思是吻，
在這裡(英國)我們在和朋友打招呼或是道別的時候都會吻一下對方的臉頰。
在英國通常是男女之間，女性之間，有些歐洲地區則也可適用於男性之間。

看起來和以前看到的美國常見XOXO其實有異曲同工之妙，
XOXO---> Hugs and kisses, O=Hug X=Kiss

場外加映：
親臉頰究竟要親幾下？
許多身邊的人其實不是很適應這樣的打招呼方式，我個人則是因為童軍活動常常接觸外國童軍夥伴的關係，已經習慣了，而且一次都是30, 40以上國家，大家的習慣、風俗都亂混在一起了XD 不習慣也沒人會勉強妳，就像大家對於第一次見面要不要握手也是沒有共識的~

此外，親幾下才是禮貌卻又不會太超過，這件事本來就因地而異，像是在德國交換的時候，和朋友見面通常是左右各一下，在英國的時候則是一下或是兩下。那法國人呢？其他地方呢？ Google這個問題，其實可以找到許多有趣的討論，不要懷疑，這個問題連美國人都覺得很困擾，有興趣可以參考下面這則部落格文章：
French Kissing: Just how many cheek kisses to give

或許可以提供你一些想法！ ;-)