History Main / XMakesAnythingCool

* ''XKCD''.

* xkcd

[[folder:Computers]]

* "Christmas" is often abbreviated as "Xmas" in writing, as the Greek letter Chi, which looks like Χ, is the first letter of Χριστός, Greek for "Christ".

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* Microsoft's (mostly) video game API DirectX. X doesn't seem to stand for anything.
** Which indirectly named the XBox. It originally was called DirectX Box.

* X appears quite a bit in computer names.
** Operating Systems and their components:
*** OlderThanTheNES is UNIX. Originally it was Unics, the opposite to Multics.
*** The X Window System for UNIX and Linux (which includes x-terminal, x-clock, etc)
**** 'W' was already taken.
*** Windows XP. The XP stands for e''XP''erience, possibly because someone at Microsoft Central had been playing ''DungeonsAndDragons''.
*** Mac OS X, all previous Mac OS's were numbered using Arabic numbers.
**** Apple's DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment repeats the ten in the version number, so Snow Leopard is Mac OS X 10.6. How is one supposed to pronounce that?
***** Apple [[http://support.apple.com/kb/TA22541?viewlocale=en_US insists that the X is pronounced "ten,"]] but usually inserts the word "version" between the two tens (eg. Mac OS X '''v'''10.6). The page just linked is an ironic exception.
** Of course, hardware names can't be avoided either:
*** The [=XT, ATX, BTX, and DTX=] motherboard design standards. The X supposedly means eXtended.
*** The PCI slot had an upgraded cousin, the PCI-X slot (again, meaning eXtended). However when PCI-Express came about, people thought PCI-X meant that. PCI-Express's unofficial abbreviation is [=PCIe=].
*** ATI/AMD and NVIDIA all have an X card, even though ATI/AMD stopped doing this a while ago. We had cards with an XT, XTX, and GTX added at the end of their names
*** The graphics card company XFX, which also slaps on XXX when one X isn't enough for their souped up graphics cards.
*** Intel uses XE for the "Extreme Edition" processors (it was formerly EE) and their model numbers have an X. A Core 2 Quad Extreme had the model numbers [=QX9650, QX9770, and QX9775=]. They also do the same thing with their chipsets. A X38 is the high end version of a P35.
*** Intel also has the Xeon line of processors.
*** AMD is guilty of the X moniker. Their old lineup of high performance processors was the FX series. Their chipsets also have an X at the end for the high end models.
*** Corsair and its XMS brand of RAM.
*** The codenames for the Xbox 360's processor and GPU are the Xenon and Xenos, respectively. The [=PlayStation=] 3's GPU is the RSX.
*** Creative Lab's X-Fi, for eXtreme Fidelity!
** And some actual computer models:
*** Dell's eXtreme Performance System, or XPS. EPS wouldn't be a great marketing name, would it? They also pretty much tacked it on to every computer they have
*** IBM PC-XT
*** Gateway's high end laptops: FX.
*** Alienware has the M17X and the ALX series of computers

** The hatchback versions of the Honda Civic come in two flavors, everyday "street" SX and the pumped up "racing" RX.

* The XBox game system. Because you can't go over to a friend's house to play his Mbox. It's just not kosher.

* HardcorePunk and [[{{Metalcore}} Metallic Hardcore]] bands (particularly those of the StraightEdge persuasion): X's drawn or tattooed on hands are common fashion, and often incorporated into band names as well (examples include xDeathstarx, xTyrantx and xLooking Forwardx).

* An X name automatically works because X is probably the least used letter in the English alphabet. And that automatically makes it cool.
** J, Q and Z are rarer. But X usually occurs at the end of a word, so it gets the shortest section of a dictionary.

* Deliberately invoked by Xykon in the [[OrderOfTheStick]] prequel ''Start of Darkness''

* Every member of the Organization XIII in ''KingdomHearts'' have an X in their names in a form of ThemeNaming. This is due to the custom that upon entering the Organization they are given a new name which is an anagram of their original name plus the letter X. Some of these work fairly well like Dilan becoming Xaldin, but some like Axel just seemed to raise questions and eyebrows. [[spoiler: Even when his real name was revealed to be the slightly feminine sounding Lea (pronounced LEE-Ah) in 358/2 Days.]]
** But in original Japanese the name is Rea (due to the fact that when translating to Western places [[JapaneseRanguage "r" will change to make names more adequate]]), and if you really think about it it's not that strange a name like that in Japan. Besides, there is something more about those names, especially Xehanort. Make the anagram and you'll get "no heart" or "another".
*** Xehanort may be an exception due to the fact that he [[spoiler: had that name prior to becoming a Nobody as Master Xehanort 10 years prior to the events of Kingdom Hearts]]. But this may be where [[BigBad he]] got the idea for adding an 'X' to everybody in the Organization's original name as a theme.

* "Christmas" is often abbreviated as "Xmas" in writing, as the Greek letter Chi, which looks like $B&6(B, is the first letter of $B&6&Q&I&R&S(Bός, Greek for "Christ".

* X-rays. Couldn't they name it something else?
** They did, at first. "Roentgen rays" just didn't have the right cachet, apparently.
*** Except in German, in which Röntgen sounds like, and thus became, a verb.
*** In Russian, they are "rentgenovskiye luchi" (Röntgen rays). No X.
*** And in Japanese, which has no letter X, but can render Röntgen almost seamlessly. X-ray would actually be ''harder'' to spell.
**** Er... what? Japanese can render Röntgen almost seamlessly, despite not having the phoneme represented by "ö" or allowing the consonant cluster "ntg"? And the Japanese word for x-ray ''does'' use "x".
**** In Japanese, Röntgen is rendered as "Ryontogen". Close enough.

[[caption-width-right:189:This is the greatest letter in the world]]