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BBC - 6 Minute English (YouTube), Using 'x' for 'kisses': 6 Minute English - YouTube

Using 'x' for 'kisses': 6 Minute English - YouTube

Neil: Hello. Welcome to 6 Minute English, I'm Neil.

Rob: And I'm Rob.

Neil: We're going to be looking at a letter

from the English alphabet. It's a letter

which has a particular meaning when

used at the end of a piece of informal

writing such as letters, emails, texts and

messages.

Rob: I'm very EXcited.

Neil: Ha ha, very good, very good Rob!

Rob: My EXpectations are really high.

Neil: Yep, that's another good one.

Rob: Is it an EXtraordinary letter?

Neil: OK, thank you Rob, that's enough of

your jokes. I'm getting EXasperated!

Oh, now you've got me at it! Well no prizes

for guessing what letter we're focussing

on today?

Rob: Why?

Neil: No, it's not Y.

Rob: No, no. I didn't mean the letter ‘y',

I meant the word ‘why', as in - why are

there no prizes?

Neil: Because of all the not so subtle

clues you've been giving. The letter is X.

Rob: Yes. Exactly.

Neil: Alright, I think we get the idea!

Before we go much further, let's have a

question. English has 26 letters. Which

language has 74 letters? Is it

a) Khmer, b) Hindi or c) Armenian?

Any ideas Rob?

Rob: An excellent question but quite

obscure, I'm going to say b) Hindi.

Neil: Well, I'll have the answer later on.

Now, Rob, what does the letter X all by

itself at the end of a message mean?

Rob: Well, it means a kiss. The more

kisses, the more affection you are

showing.

Neil: Where does this concept of putting

an X to mean a kiss, come from? Dr Laura

Wright is from the Faculty of English at

Cambridge University and she appeared

on the BBC Radio 4 programme

Word of Mouth. When does she say this

practice started and where does it come from?

Well, we've been adding Xs for kisses at

the bottom of letters since at least 1763.

So the very first one we know of had seven

Xs. I have to say, I haven't gone to seven ever.

We get X from the Roman alphabet which

got it from the Greek alphabet,

pronounced /ks/ and the Romans...

Presenter: That's nearly a kiss, isn't it?

Yes it is, isn't it? I think a penny's

just dropped there.

Presenter: It has, clunk.

Neil: What do we learn about the origins

of the X for kisses?

Rob: Well, it's been used since at least

1763, and it comes from the Roman

alphabet and they got it from the Greeks.

Neil: And why did this come to mean a kiss?

Rob: Well, Dr Wright suggests it's because

of the original pronunciation - /ks/.

Neil: And at the point the presenter made

the connection, didn't he?

Rob: Yes, he did. And Dr Wright used a

phrase for when someone suddenly

understands something,

particularly something that is obvious to

others. She said the penny has just dropped.

Neil: And this has got nothing to do with a

penny, which is small coin, actually

dropping anywhere. But the presenter

makes a joke by using a word we use for

the noise of something falling, clunk.

Rob: Although, to be honest, a penny

would never really clunk. That's more like

the noise two heavy metal objects would

make - the clunk of a car door, for example.

Neil: Let's listen to that exchange again.

Well, we've been adding Xs for kisses at

the bottom of letters since at least 1763.

So the very first one we know of had seven Xs.

I have to say I haven't gone to seven ever.

We get X from the Roman alphabet which

got it from the Greek alphabet,

pronounced /ks/ and the Romans...

Presenter: That's nearly a kiss, isn't it?

Yes it is, isn't it? I think a penny's

just dropped there.

Presenter: It has, clunk.

Neil: One thing to note about putting an X

at the end of a communication is that it is

not something you do for everyone. It's

usually only to friends and family

members, people you might kiss in real

life. Professor Nils Langer from

the University of Bristol told a story about

a colleague of his who wasn't too familiar

with this convention. What was her mistake?

A colleague of mine from Bristol, who... when

she came over from Germany thought

that X was just the normal way of closing a

letter in England and so she would finish

any letter with Xs, even a letter to the

Inland Revenue. We never heard, really,

how the Inland Revenue responded

to these letters with these Xs.

Presenter: They docked her another 20

quid, I think!

Neil: What was her mistake, Rob?

Rob: She didn't realise that you don't put

an X on every communication. So she

even put it on business letter including

one to the Inland Revenue, which is the

government department in the UK that

deals with tax.

Neil: We don't know how the tax people

felt about the letter with kisses. But the

presenter joked about what their

response would have been.

Rob: Yes, he joked that they probably

docked her another 20 quid. To dock

money is to cut the amount of money you

are expecting to receive and a quid is a

slang word for a British pound.

Neil: Now time for the answer to our

question. English has 26 letters. Which

language has 74 letters? Is it…

a) Khmer, b) Hindi or c) Armenian?

Rob: I guessed b) Hindi.

Neil: Well, I suppose it was a one in three

chance, but not correct this time. The

answer is a) Khmer. Very well done if you

knew that. Now on to the vocabulary we

looked at in this programme.

Rob: We started with a penny. A penny is

an English coin.

A hundred pennies makes one pound sterling.

Neil: The phrase 'the penny has dropped'

means that someone has suddenly

understood something.

Rob: A clunk is the noise of two heavy

objects hitting each other.

Neil: The Inland Revenue is the UK's tax

authority.

Rob: And if you dock money from someone,

you reduce the amount of money you pay

them. For example, as an employee in the

UK your tax is automatically docked from

your salary.

Neil: And finally, a quid, which is a slang

term for one pound sterling. Right, before

they start docking our pay for being late,

it's time to say goodbye. Find us on

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, our

App and of course the website

bbclearningenglish.com.

See you soon, goodbye.

Rob: Bye bye!

Using 'x' for 'kisses': 6 Minute English - YouTube |||kisses||| |||キス||| |||จูบ|นาที|| 'x' für 'Küsse': 6 Minuten Englisch - YouTube Utiliser "x" pour "kisses" : 6 Minute English - YouTube キス」に「x」を使う：6分間英語 - YouTube '키스'에 'X'를 사용하기: 6분 영어 - YouTube Używanie "x" dla "pocałunków": 6 minut po angielsku - YouTube Usar 'x' para 'beijos': 6 Minutos de Inglês - YouTube การใช้ 'x' สำหรับ 'kisses': ภาษาอังกฤษ 6 นาที - YouTube 'Öpücük' için 'x' kullanmak: 6 Dakikalık İngilizce - YouTube Використання "x" для "поцілунків": 6 хвилин англійської - YouTube 使用“x”表示“亲吻”：6 分钟英语 - YouTube

Neil: Hello. Welcome to 6 Minute English, I'm Neil. ||||นาที|||นีล นีล: สวัสดี. ยินดีต้อนรับสู่ 6 Minute English ฉันชื่อนีล

Rob: And I'm Rob. ร็อบ: และฉันคือร็อบ

Neil: We're going to be looking at a letter |我们|||||||信件 นีล: เราจะดูจดหมายกัน

from the English alphabet. It's a letter 来自|||字母||| |||Buchstabe||| |||字母表||| |||อักษร||| |||字母||| จากตัวอักษรภาษาอังกฤษ มันเป็นจดหมาย

which has a particular meaning when |||特定の|| ซึ่ง|||เฉพาะ|| ซึ่งมีความหมายเฉพาะเมื่อใด

used at the end of a piece of informal ||||||||非正式的 ||||||ชิ้น||ไม่เป็นทางการ ||||||||非正式 ใช้ต่อท้ายคำที่ไม่เป็นทางการ

writing such as letters, emails, texts and |เช่น||จดหมาย|อีเมล|ข้อความ| การเขียน เช่น จดหมาย อีเมล ข้อความ และ

messages. ข้อความ ข้อความ

Rob: I'm very EXcited. ร็อบ: ฉันตื่นเต้นมาก

Neil: Ha ha, very good, very good Rob! |ha|||||| นีล: ฮ่าฮ่า ดีมาก ดีมาก Rob!

Rob: My EXpectations are really high. ||期望||| ||expectations||| ||ความคาดหวัง||| ||очікування||| Rob: ความคาดหวังของฉันสูงมาก

Neil: Yep, that's another good one. ||นั่นคือ||| นีล: ใช่ นั่นเป็นอีกสิ่งหนึ่งที่ดี

Rob: Is it an EXtraordinary letter? ||||非凡的| ||||extraordinary| ||||特別な| ||||จดหมายที่ไม่ธรรมดา| Rob: มันเป็นจดหมายพิเศษหรือเปล่า?

Neil: OK, thank you Rob, that's enough of ||||||พอ| นีล: โอเค ขอบคุณร็อบ ก็พอแล้ว

your jokes. I'm getting EXasperated! ||||fed up ||||вимучений ||||exasperado ||||恼火 ||Ich werde||genervt ||||หงุดหงิด ||||イライラしている ||||Zniecierpliwiony เรื่องตลกของคุณ ฉันเริ่มจะโกรธแล้ว!

Oh, now you've got me at it! Well no prizes |||||||||奖品 |||||||||prizes ||あなたは|||||||賞品 ||||ฉัน|||||รางวัล โอ้ ตอนนี้คุณเข้าใจฉันแล้ว! ดีไม่มีรางวัล.

for guessing what letter we're focussing |||||焦点を当てている |การเดา||||มุ่งเน้น เพื่อเดาว่าเรากำลังเน้นตัวอักษรตัวไหน

on today? |วันนี้ วันนี้เหรอ?

Rob: Why? ร็อบ: ทำไม?

Neil: No, it's not Y. นีล: ไม่ ไม่ใช่ Y.

Rob: No, no. I didn't mean the letter ‘y', |||||||ตัวอักษร| ร็อบ: ไม่ ไม่ ฉันไม่ได้หมายถึงตัวอักษร 'y'

I meant the word ‘why', as in - why are ฉันหมายถึงคำว่า 'ทำไม' เช่นเดียวกับใน - ทำไมจึงเป็นเช่นนั้น 我的意思是‘为什么’这个词，比如 - 为什么会

there no prizes? ไม่มีรางวัลเหรอ?

Neil: Because of all the not so subtle |||||nicht so||subtil |||||||not so subtle |||||||ละเอียด |||||||sutil |||||||微妙な นีล: เพราะความไม่ละเอียดอ่อนทั้งหมด Neil: 因为所有这些不那么微妙的。尼尔：因為所有那些不那麼明顯的

clues you've been giving. The letter is X. 线索提示||||||| เบาะแส||||||| 手がかり||||||| pistas||||||| 线索||||||| เบาะแสที่คุณให้ ตัวอักษรคือ X 你一直在给出的线索。这个字母是X。你一直在給的線索。字母是X。

Rob: Yes. Exactly. ||ใช่เลย ร็อบ: ใช่. อย่างแน่นอน. Rob: 是的。完全正确。 Rob: 是的。正是如此。

Neil: Alright, I think we get the idea! ||Ich|denke|||| |||||ได้|| นีล: เอาล่ะ ฉันคิดว่าเราเข้าใจแนวคิดนี้แล้ว! Neil: 好的，我觉得我们明白了！ Neil: 好吧，我想我們明白了！

Before we go much further, let's have a ||||ไปไกล||| ก่อนที่เราจะไปไกลกว่านี้เรามามี

question. English has 26 letters. Which คำถาม. ภาษาอังกฤษมี 26 ตัวอักษร ที่

language has 74 letters? Is it ภาษามี 74 ตัวอักษร? ใช่ไหม

a) Khmer, b) Hindi or c) Armenian? |a) Khmer||b) Hindi|||Armenian |c) armênio||b) Hindi|||armênio |高棉语||印地语|||亚美尼亚语 |高棉语||||| |กัมพูชา||||| |クメール||ヒンディー語|||アルメニア語 a) เขมร b) ฮินดีหรือ c) อาร์เมเนีย?

Any ideas Rob? มีความคิดอะไรบ้างร็อบ?

Rob: An excellent question but quite ||great||| |||||ค่อนข้าง Rob: เป็นคำถามที่ยอดเยี่ยมแต่ค่อนข้างมาก

obscure, I'm going to say b) Hindi. Unclear, I choose.|||||| неясно||збираюся|||| obscuro|||||| 不清楚|||||| unbekannt|||||| ไม่ชัดเจน||||||ฮินดี 不明な|||||| คลุมเครือ ฉันจะพูดว่า b) ภาษาฮินดี

Neil: Well, I'll have the answer later on. นีล: ฉันจะได้คำตอบทีหลัง

Now, Rob, what does the letter X all by เอาล่ะ ร็อบ ตัวอักษร X ทั้งหมดเขียนว่าอะไร

itself at the end of a message mean? ตัวเองอยู่ท้ายข้อความหมายความว่า?

Rob: Well, it means a kiss. The more |||||um beijo|| Rob: ก็หมายถึงการจูบ ยิ่ง

kisses, the more affection you are |||affectionate|| |||afeto|| |||亲密|| |||Zuneigung|| |||亲密感|| |||ความรัก|| |||愛情|| จูบ ยิ่งเสน่หา

showing. การแสดง กำลังแสดง

Neil: Where does this concept of putting ||||แนวคิด|| นีล: แนวคิดเรื่องการวางนี้อยู่ที่ไหน

an X to mean a kiss, come from? Dr Laura |||||||||Dr Laura |||||||||Laura X หมายถึงจูบ มาจากไหน? ดร.ลอร่า

Wright is from the Faculty of English at ||||英语系||| Wright||||Department||| ||||学部||| Wright||||Faculdade||| ||||学院||| ไรท์มาจากคณะภาษาอังกฤษที่

Cambridge University and she appeared ||||was present ケンブリッジ|||| ||||ปรากฏตัว มหาวิทยาลัยเคมบริดจ์และเธอปรากฏตัว

on the BBC Radio 4 programme ในรายการวิทยุบีบีซี 4

Word of Mouth. When does she say this ||口碑||||| การบอกต่อ. เมื่อไหร่เธอจะพูดแบบนี้.

practice started and where does it come from? 实践||||||| การปฏิบัติเริ่มต้นขึ้นและมาจากที่ไหน?

Well, we've been adding Xs for kisses at ||||亲吻符号||| ||||Xs||| ก็เราได้เพิ่ม X เพื่อแทนจูบที่

the bottom of letters since at least 1763. |||手紙||| |ด้านล่าง||จดหมาย|ตั้งแต่||อย่างน้อย ด้านล่างของจดหมายมาตั้งแต่ปี 1763 อย่างน้อย. 至少自1763年以来，字母的底部。

So the very first one we know of had seven |||||||||seven ดังนั้นสิ่งแรกที่เรารู้จักมีเจ็ด 所以我们知道的第一个就是七。所以我們知道的第一個有七個

Xs. I have to say, I haven't gone to seven ever. <Xs> im Kontext von <Xs. Ich muss sagen, ich bin noch nie bis sieben gegangen.>|||||Ich||||| ||||||||||in my life 7|||||||||| ||||||ยังไม่ได้|ไป||| Xs. Должен сказать, что я ни разу не ходил на семерку. Xs. ฉันต้องบอกว่าฉันไม่เคยไปถึงเจ็ดเลย 先生。我必须说，我从未去过七。 X。我必須說，我從來沒有去過七個。

We get X from the Roman alphabet which |||||Roman|alphabet| ||||||อักษรศาสตร์|ซึ่ง |||||romano|| เราได้ X มาจากอักษรโรมันซึ่ง 我们从罗马字母中得到X，我們從羅馬字母中得到X，

got it from the Greek alphabet, ||||ギリシャ語| ได้รับมาจากอักษรกรีก, 罗马字母又是从希腊字母中得到的。它源自希臘字母，

pronounced /ks/ and the Romans... |罗马字母||| |quinhentos|||os Romanos |кс||| ออกเสียง /ks/ และชาวโรมัน...

Presenter: That's nearly a kiss, isn't it? ผู้พูด: นั่นเกือบจะเป็นจูบนะ, ใช่ไหม?

Yes it is, isn't it? I think a penny's ||||||||worth a lot ||||||||um centavo ||||||||便士 ||||||||便士的 |||ไม่ใช่|ใช่ มันใช่ไหม?||คิด||เพนนี ||||||||ペニー ใช่แล้วใช่มั้ย? 我觉得一分钱的事情是的，是的，不是嗎？我覺得有一個便士

just dropped there. |was dropped| |deixou| 刚刚发生了。剛掉到那裡。

Presenter: It has, clunk. Presenter|||loud mechanical sound |||um som seco |||klonk |||咔哒声 |||так точно |||音主持人：确实是，咔嚓。主持人：確實掉了，咔嚓。

Neil: What do we learn about the origins |||||||origins

of the X for kisses? ||||kisses

Rob: Well, it's been used since at least

1763, and it comes from the Roman

alphabet and they got it from the Greeks. |||||||希腊人 alphabet||||||| |||||||gregos

Neil: And why did this come to mean a kiss?

Rob: Well, Dr Wright suggests it's because ||||suggests||

of the original pronunciation - /ks/. ||original|pronunciation|

Neil: And at the point the presenter made ||||||the speaker|

the connection, didn't he?

Rob: Yes, he did. And Dr Wright used a

phrase for when someone suddenly

understands something,

particularly something that is obvious to ||||显而易见| ||||clear|

others. She said the penny has just dropped. ||||钱||| |||||||realized ||||a ficha||| 她指出，这只是刚刚领悟到。

Neil: And this has got nothing to do with a 尼尔：这与一分钱没有任何关系，实际上，一分钱是个小硬币

penny, which is small coin, actually ||||kleine Münze| 其他人。

dropping anywhere. But the presenter ||||speaker deixando cair||||

makes a joke by using a word we use for

the noise of something falling, clunk. |||||Klonk 东西掉落的声音，砰。

Rob: Although, to be honest, a penny ||||||ペニー罗布：虽然说实话，一分钱

would never really clunk. That's more like 永远不会发出砰的声音。更像是

the noise two heavy metal objects would |||||物体|

make - the clunk of a car door, for example. ||咔嗒声|||||| ||声响|||||| make - 比如汽车门的发出的咔嗒声。

Neil: Let's listen to that exchange again. |||||对话| |||||conversation| |||||diálogo| Neil: 让我们再听一遍那个对话。

Well, we've been adding Xs for kisses at Well, we've been adding Xs for kisses at

the bottom of letters since at least 1763.

So the very first one we know of had seven Xs. Так, самый первый из известных нам экземпляров имел семь иксов. 所以我们知道的第一个有七个X。

I have to say I haven't gone to seven ever. |||||||||in my life 我必须说我从来没有去过七个。

We get X from the Roman alphabet which ||||||Roman alphabet| 我们从罗马字母中得到X

got it from the Greek alphabet,

pronounced /ks/ and the Romans...

Presenter: That's nearly a kiss, isn't it?

Yes it is, isn't it? I think a penny's Ja, nicht wahr?|||||||| ||||||||монета

just dropped there.

Presenter: It has, clunk. |||так точно

Neil: One thing to note about putting an X

at the end of a communication is that it is

not something you do for everyone. It's

usually only to friends and family |||||family

members, people you might kiss in real members||||||

life. Professor Nils Langer from |||朗格教授| ||Nils|Langer|

the University of Bristol told a story about |||布里斯托尔||||

a colleague of his who wasn't too familiar |||||||well-acquainted |||||||親しい

with this convention. What was her mistake? ||惯例|||| ||mit dieser Konvention|||| ||meeting|||| ||convenção|||| ||угода||||

A colleague of mine from Bristol, who... when

she came over from Germany thought 她来自德国，以为

that X was just the normal way of closing a |||||正常|||| ||||||||ending| X只是在英格兰写信的一种常规方式，所以她会结束

letter in England and so she would finish 信

any letter with Xs, even a letter to the |||<Xs> in diesem Kontext||||| qualquer||||||||

Inland Revenue. We never heard, really, 国内|税务|||| Finanzamt. Wirklich nie.||||| Domestic|Tax authority|||| Receita Interna|Receita Federal|||| |税务局||||

how the Inland Revenue responded ||内陆|| ||Inland Revenue|| ||||応じた ||||respondeu |||税务局|

to these letters with these Xs.

Presenter: They docked her another 20 ||deducted from pay|| ||descontaram|| ||给|| |Sie|docked|| ||扣了她20|| ||додали|| ||付けた|| 主持人：她被扣了另外20分您接受的训练数据截止到2023年10月。

quid, I think! something|| o que|| 什么|| Quid, denke ich!|| 一英镑，我想|| що ж|| 何|| 英鎊，我想！

Neil: What was her mistake, Rob? Neil||||| 尼爾：她的錯誤是什麼，羅布？

Rob: She didn't realise that you don't put 羅布：她沒有意識到你不應該放置

an X on every communication. So she

even put it on business letter including ||||||を含めて

one to the Inland Revenue, which is the ||||Revenue|||

government department in the UK that

deals with tax.

Neil: We don't know how the tax people

felt about the letter with kisses. But the

presenter joked about what their |开玩笑||| |scherzte||| |жартував||| |brincou sobre o|||

response would have been.

Rob: Yes, he joked that they probably |||scherzte|||

docked her another 20 quid. To dock 扣除|||英镑||扣除 deducted|||pounds||deduct |||||ドック |||||descontou |||||扣除 zog ihr weitere 20 Pfund ab. Etwas abzuziehen

money is to cut the amount of money you お金|||||||お金| bedeutet, den Betrag des Geldes zu kürzen, den Sie

are expecting to receive and a quid is a |期待|||||英镑|| erwarten zu erhalten, und ein Pfund ist ein

slang word for a British pound. |||||Quid quid||||| スラング||||| |||||quid

Neil: Now time for the answer to our

question. English has 26 letters. Which

language has 74 letters? Is it…

a) Khmer, b) Hindi or c) Armenian? |a) Khmer||b) Hindi|||Armenian |кхмерська|||||вірменська

Rob: I guessed b) Hindi.

Neil: Well, I suppose it was a one in three

chance, but not correct this time. The |||正しい|||

answer is a) Khmer. Very well done if you |||Khmer||||| кхмерська мова||||||||

knew that. Now on to the vocabulary we

looked at in this programme.

Rob: We started with a penny. A penny is |||||um centavo|||

an English coin.

A hundred pennies makes one pound sterling. ||||||sterling ||||||libra esterlina ||||||英镑 ||||||Pfund ||||||英镑 ||||||стерлінг ||||||ポンド一百個便士等於一英鎊。

Neil: The phrase 'the penny has dropped' |||その||| 尼尔：短语“豁然开朗” 尼爾：短語「便士掉下來了」

means that someone has suddenly 意味着某人突然明白了什么。意味著某人突然明白了

understood something.

Rob: A clunk is the noise of two heavy |||||噪音|||

objects hitting each other. |colidindo||

Neil: The Inland Revenue is the UK's tax

authority. Behörde 権威

Rob: And if you dock money from someone, ||||||从| ||wenn|dir|||| ||||deduct|||

you reduce the amount of money you pay du senkst|||||||

them. For example, as an employee in the |||||empregado||

UK your tax is automatically docked from |Ihrer||||abgezogen| ||||automatically|deducted| ||||自動的に|| ||imposto|||retida|

your salary. |給料

Neil: And finally, a quid, which is a slang ||||||||俚语 ||||funt brytyjski|||| Ніл||||||||

term for one pound sterling. Right, before ||||Pfund Sterling|| ||||pound sterling||

they start docking our pay for being late, sie||||||| ||deducting||||| ||зменшувати||||| ||descontando||||| за опоздание начинают лишать зарплаты,

it's time to say goodbye. Find us on it is|||||||

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, our Instagram|||| Instagram||||

App and of course the website

bbclearningenglish.com. BBC навчання англійської|

See you soon, goodbye. |||さようなら

Rob: Bye bye!