15 Oct 15 - 06:43 PM (#3744195) Subject: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: Mr Red Many years ago a girlfriend (5ft 2, eyes of blue, Irish colleen oh the memories) signed off her letters (no e-mails then, or not that I knew of) with XOXOX X as kisses & O as hugs (think arms) So is this a rare thing or did it just not figure in my family/contemporaries' missives? |
15 Oct 15 - 06:47 PM (#3744197) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: maeve Common for many years within and prior to my experiences, Mr. Red. Another was and is SWAK (sealed with a kiss). |
15 Oct 15 - 06:54 PM (#3744203) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: michaelr Quite common in the US. |
15 Oct 15 - 08:38 PM (#3744249) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: frogprince OXXX would make an interesting variation... |
15 Oct 15 - 11:37 PM (#3744267) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: meself Dare I ask why? I remember all kinds of variations from my long-gone days as a lady's man. Variations of X's and O's, that is .... Even the occasional F and U. In that order. |
16 Oct 15 - 01:06 AM (#3744270) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: Joe Offer Yeah, that XO thing has been common in the US all MY life, and that's a long, long time. SWAK seems more recent. For a while, I thought it meant something violent, like a whack! on the butt... -Joe, who was always a tad dense- |
16 Oct 15 - 01:18 AM (#3744272) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: meself This is the first I've heard of SWAK. |
16 Oct 15 - 01:43 AM (#3744273) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: Dave the Gnome It was SWALK (Sealed with a loving kiss) in my youth. (UK) |
16 Oct 15 - 02:17 AM (#3744278) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: GUEST Yes, SWALK was around from when I first got involved in such things (late 60s', UK). Older than that maybe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.W.A.L.K. |
16 Oct 15 - 03:27 AM (#3744282) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: Bert I remember SWALK from the mid Fifties. |
16 Oct 15 - 04:55 AM (#3744303) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: Mr Red I always thought "Hugs & Kisses" was common among groups I was not part of. SWALK was, I was told, common among soldiers during WW2. Usually on the back of the envelope. Now that the thread is morphing into acronyms on letters I do know these ITALY EGYPT BOLTOP NORWICH |
16 Oct 15 - 05:03 AM (#3744306) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: GUEST,Peter Don't forget BURMA There was a great Peter Cook sketch where he was dictating a telegram to be signed off "NORWICH". |
16 Oct 15 - 11:46 AM (#3744392) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: Mr Red HOLLAND |
16 Oct 15 - 01:25 PM (#3744435) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: Mr Red Wiki link above I vaguely remember CHINA and all above but some of them in the link are new to me. Was there ever one for Spain? |
16 Oct 15 - 01:32 PM (#3744437) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: MGM·Lion "Acronym Definition SPAIN Social Policy Ageing Information Network (UK)" -- from an acronym weblist .,,. Not quite one of the interestingly suggestive ones like the others, tho... |
17 Oct 15 - 03:50 AM (#3744563) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: Mr Red There used to be a pub near me called the Spa Inn and with their typeface and small space I was fooled several times (driving past) by reading it as SPAIN. Strange how the mind works when it is already occupied on other tasks. |
17 Oct 15 - 04:00 AM (#3744567) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: Mr Red LOVE acronyms |
17 Oct 15 - 04:04 AM (#3744570) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler A vague memory of, I think, a Morcambe and Wise sketch where a letter gets finished with CONSTANTINOPLE. No explanation of course. |
17 Oct 15 - 05:10 AM (#3744584) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: MGM·Lion How about, as a quick attempt -- Come On Now, Site Thine Arse Near The Intimate Nucleus Of People's Lively Expectations ??? ≈M≈ |
17 Oct 15 - 07:43 AM (#3744621) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: Mr Red What would you make of ROME? Ride On My ............. well you get the idea |
17 Oct 15 - 07:56 AM (#3744626) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: Bat Goddess From the Sixties I remember SWAKBDLIGTYH = "Sealed With A Kiss But Don't Let It Go To Your Head". I was familiar ('50s and '60s) with SWAK and the Xs and Os things, but seldom used them. I didn't dot my "i"s with hearts, either. Linn |
17 Oct 15 - 09:42 AM (#3744642) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: Uncle_DaveO I remember the girls' use of SWAK (no L), along with X's and O's, when I was in high school in Minnesota, in the early to mid 1940s. Never addressed to me though, alas! Dave Oesterreich |
17 Oct 15 - 12:52 PM (#3744691) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: Tattie Bogle Mr Red and SPA INN: I was fooled into thinking there was a chain of Italian restaurants called ALLBARONE! |
18 Oct 15 - 12:48 PM (#3744923) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: ChanteyLass Back to Xs and Os but not in mail. A relative was gaining weight while I was losing it. She gave me her thick bright red cotton sweater, knit in the style of Irish fishermen's sweaters, with some rows of stitches that look like Xs and Os, each on top of the other, from the top to bottom of the sweater. She called them hugs and kisses stitches. The sweater came from the Land's End company, and I don't think they company has continued to make them. I get lots of compliments on that sweater. |
18 Oct 15 - 04:26 PM (#3744979) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: EBarnacle As long as we are discussing initialisms, I still have not found any attribution of RTFM that goes back further than Dick Greenhaus's. He said that he heard it from a veteran at his engineering school between WW II and Korea. Anyone have anything earlier? Dick's citation definitely predates Wikipedia's citation of the earliest written usage as being Korean War. |
18 Oct 15 - 05:34 PM (#3744987) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: MGM·Lion Does RTFM mean "Make sure you are conversant with the works of Dr Alex Comfort"? ≈M≈ |
18 Oct 15 - 07:42 PM (#3745013) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: Gurney Mr Red's website has a reading for BURMA, but not the one that I, and possibly Guest Peter, know. Be Undressed Ready My Angel. |
19 Oct 15 - 04:36 AM (#3745097) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: GUEST,Peter That's the one that I know although apart from SWALK I have only come across any of them in comedy sketches. I was mistaken about the telegram sketch, it was Alan Bennett not Peter Cook. It is on YouTube. |
19 Oct 15 - 08:00 AM (#3745132) Subject: RE: BS: How common is this in letters & emails? From: Mr Red I must have removed the acronyms from my website, don't remember them properly being there! I can't see where I put them now. But I always understood BURMA to be as posted by Gurney. Or maybe with Upstairs variations. |