Twitter’s rebrand: Why ‘x’ could be the most powerful letter in English

When German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen discovered a new kind of radiation in 1895, he called it an X-ray because its nature was unknown. To have the X-factor is to possess some intangible star quality. In sci-fi, x comes to represent something otherworldly, extraterrestrial. This ambiguity isn’t always positive. Think pieces on Generation X – those born between 1965 and 1980 – often described them as a lost, aimless generation.

The letter can also signify an absence or an erasure. The X in civil rights activist Malcolm X’s name stood for his unknown African name, taken from his ancestors during slavery. The Straight Edge punk movement – who abstain from alcohol, tobacco and drugs – use X as their identifier. Yet, at other times x symbolises a presence – x marks the spot; the x used to mark our choice on a ballot paper. It is a letter full of contradictions.

It also has a whiff of sexual danger. John Singer Sargent’s provocative painting Madame X, depicting an American woman known for her extra-marital affairs, scandalised late 19th-Century Paris. In 1951, the British Board of Film Censors introduced the X certificate to indicate a film was “extremely graphic.” Though this originally referred to violence and bad language as well as sex, “X-rated” was co-opted by the porn industry and is now shorthand for sexually explicit material.

Its association with the extreme seems apt for Elon Musk who, when he first bought Twitter, asked staff to commit to an “extremely hardcore” working culture.

The letter x doesn’t just have multiple meanings, but multiple pronunciations too – not ideal when you make it the centrepiece of your huge global brand. There’s confusion on what it might be called in Japan, where the term X Japan is already trademarked by a rock band.

It’s assumed Musk wants his X to be something akin to China’s WeChat, an app where users can communicate, consume news, make purchases, pay bills and even order a taxi. For an app that will offer such disparate services, it perhaps makes sense to use a symbol with so many meanings.

But the rebrand has got off to a bumpy and confusing start. Police arrived midway through the removal of the twitter sign from the company’s San Francisco headquarters, putting a halt to the “unauthorised work” and leaving just “er” hanging on the building. There is uncertainty about how we will talk about X, too. Will tweets now be Xs? The word “tweet” made it into the dictionary as a verb – what will the equivalent be?

“Because of its multiple potential, sometimes contradictory meanings, the X symbol at first sight will certainly strike many as mysterious, puzzling, perhaps intriguing, but should a brand be provoking uncertainty or confusion?” asks Thorne. The future of Musk’s X project is yet to be seen – but harnessing the power of this most beguiling and shape-shifting of letters might prove too much, even for the world’s richest man.

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