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‘X’ Marks The Spot

“X marks the spot”. Even though, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, just 366 mostly rather obscure words begin with the letter X, it’s widely considered the most powerful, exciting letter in the alphabet. What would have become of Malcolm X if he’d been just plain old ‘Malcolm’? Would the B-files have sounded as thrilling as the X-files? And so on. Millions of products and businesses have been given the ‘instant cool’ effect through the prominent use of the letter X. X is more than just a letter, but a symbol that people have been making for thousands of years; it’s one of the earliest symbols found in cave art, and a highly recognisable symbol of algebra. Somehow, the mystique of X has never worn off. 

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