“In the margins of manuscripts, X is a critical note which indicates an unusual expression or an overly bold figure.
It is also sometimes used to note remarkable places.
This explanation given by Émile Littré in the article he devoted to this letter in 1876 has disappeared from use.
Wrongly, some would gladly see in it the first origin of the "film rated X", which, in reality, is only a formula taken up in 1975 in English X rated, designating the cross crossing out a film title , censorship therefore being exercised on its pornographic character.
Obsolete expression
“
It's a double letter that we borrowed from Latin.
The ancients bounded their Alphabeth there
", Furetière specified in 1690. If this letter is not always recommendable since the end of the 20th century, it can also be very rewarding, with, insofar as it is a constant of algebra , expressions almost obsolete today, but noted by Littré in 1876: “
To be strong in x
”, let us understand gifted in mathematics.
It was…
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