The letter X is getting a good airing these days. Feels like we’re all dragging it out the cupboard to have another look at it now Elon Musk has decided to stand it in place of the small, tweeting blue bird.

I’ve been pondering why the letter means so much to him. It might be all the usual, slightly ominous, or techy, ‘X’ factor reasons, but I’ve come up with another theory, so I thought I’d add it to the pile.

I’m wondering if Elon Musk’s affection for the letter X might have started in South Africa, where he grew up. He only left at the age of 17, and I’m assuming he would have heard a lot of the language isiXhosa, one of the most widely spoken in South Africa, and famous for its use of clicking sounds. His own name in English, and the name of the Canadian province his mother is from, Saskatchewan, both feature the English equivalent of a clicking sound, and in isiXhosa these are represented by an X.

The language has always fascinated me. Perhaps it does him too.

Here’s another link to a South African site with a little more about the isiXhosa language

And for a final treat, a little further from the letter X, here is Miriam Makeba singing the ‘click’ song

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023