People Are Completely Divided Over How To Draw An X

@SMASEY/Twitter/@MizzayTee/Twitter

Someone on Twitter asked how everyone draws an ‘X’ and the question has divided the internet. 

Up to now, I imagine everyone’s probably gone through life completely uncaring about how they draw the letter X, but thanks to one diagram posted by Twitter user @SMASEY yesterday (January 20), the two lines have suddenly gained a whole new level of importance.

Simply raising this topic in the UNILAD office caused the editorial staff to down keyboards and draw Xs in the air, desperately trying to remember what their natural pattern was.

Despite the fact it really doesn’t matter how the crossed lines come to be on a page, the question has gone viral and divided Twitter users, torn apart friendships, and ruined lives.

Okay, well it’s probably not had that much of an impact, but people are certainly reacting very seriously online.

The curious Twitter user offered up eight different ways to draw Xs in her post, depicting various combinations of up-down, down-down, down-up, combined with left-right, right-left… you get the picture.

Sharing the diagrams, she wrote:

Also this is so interesting to me – which way do you draw an X? Colored line being the first stroke.

I’m not sure exactly what is so interesting in learning about the ways other people draw lines, but I won’t condemn what fascinates her, and it certainly caught the attention of thousands of people online.

The tweet was shared over 11,000 times and gained over 20,000 comments, with people posting their numbers and arguing about what the ‘correct’ way actually was.

Many people got confused after having to actively think about how they formed the letter, resulting in multitude of changed minds:

Others provided diagrams of their own as evidence for what was right, with one arguing for number seven based on a cursive demonstration:

While someone else threw in a curveball with this baffling suggestion:

Surely drawing four little lines rather than two long ones is a great waste of time? Also, you’re just playing with fire with line number four there. If you’re even a little bit off those lines aren’t going to meet in the middle with a satisfying cross.

I understand everyone has their own way of doing things, but that is just wrong.

Another added even more fuel to the fire with this turn of events:

After collecting a number of responses, the interested Twitter user revealed number seven and number eight both appear to be more common for Americans, while UK X-drawers apparently favour patterns five and six.

Though, I’m a Brit with a steadfast down-down number seven pattern, so the results obviously aren’t set in stone.

The conversation became heated as people fought for their opinions, with some making judgements about anyone who disagreed with them.

One person tweeted:

8.

People who draw bottom to top are also the ones that put their toilet paper on the holder the wrong way.

While another added:

8. Obviously. The rest of you are all deviant freaks.

Of course, we could question the way all other 25 letters of the alphabet are drawn – I’m sure there’s some weird and wonderful techniques out there – but it might actually bring the world to a standstill if we delve into that investigation.

In the end, it really doesn’t matter. These days we mostly type our Xs anyway.

If you have a story you want to tell, send it to [email protected]. 

Emily Brown

Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.