Why do so many UK women post like this?

[user1477391263]

I'm British but a permanent resident of another country, which I moved to 25 years ago before social media was really a thing; my social media has people from all over the world, but the majority are not British.

I've come to realize that Facebook groups (etc.) that have British posters, such as local FB groups from my hometown, sound really different in the way people (or women, anyway) post!

There's a certain style, and it's very noticeable. It consists of using no punctuation apart from commas, no capitals, and putting kisses (x, or xx, or even xxx..... etc.) on the end of almost every post - sometimes on the end of every sentence. I rarely see this in women of other nationalities, even those who are not native speakers of English. Not every UK woman posts like this, for sure, but a lot of them do!

When did this become a thing? The oddest thing is that most of the women I know who post like this are perfectly intelligent people! I've had to sort of consciously train myself to (when reading a UK woman's online writing) mentally separate the posting style and the woman's assumed level of intelligence/education, because I know from experience that even well-read women with a lot of education quite often post like this.

I know it doesn't really...."matter," but I'm just a bit puzzled about when and why this became such a trend and why it seems to be so UK-specific. Is it about appearing friendly?

Two things:

My letters often come out in a jumble of upper and lower case, especially on fb and I often cba changing them. It's not that I don't know the correct way but you might assume so if you read some of my posts.

Whilst you're being judgmental, it's 'matter' and 'nice', not "matter" and "nice".

Dh’s sisters leave xxx at the end of a WhatsApp, even when they are being angry and rude to him - it really is weird and annoying.

I do this.
I also over emoji.

When I had a pen pal in the 90s I'd decorate his letters with pictures of maracas (only thing I could draw, not remotely relevant to where he lived) and occasionally a cat.

I like my X's or my ⭐❤💐
I also enjoy sending cards and letters, emails, chatting to any/everyone.

I'm okay with not being everyone's cup of tea, I think I'm alright.

The "x" at the end is usually either passive aggressiveness (someone trying to assert their position but soften it with a kiss, which never works/looks good), or someone who is still mentally a 15 year old girl using "hun" speak (the kinds of girls you see on Love Island, etc)

Exactly this. None of my friends write in this way although I have seen it in groups and local pages etc. I suspect it’s either poor education, laziness or ‘following the herd’ type behaviour.

Yes, we do use the x for a kiss in the USA. Kisses and hugs symbols are well known here. Of course, the X can also stand in for Christ as in Christmas, a practice that goes way back.

It will be a cold day in hell before I consciously leave out a full stop. Passive aggressive? What utter nonsense.

It's stylistic, I suppose. Denotes casualness, warmth. I don't think before I type I just get the message out super fast. I type kisses to communicate my excitement, like how others might use exclamation marks. I tend to use exclamation marks when I'm angry.

I agree with Wednesday that it's following the herd.

I think x for kiss is an anglosphere symbol. I'm sure other cultures have their own symbols for kisses. Sounds as if they're not used often though. I spot Germans with their ;-) I think Dutch use it too?

You win the internet today 😁

Yeah, loads of people do.

Have I missed something?

What does someone putting "xxx" on the end of a piece of text have to do with their intelligence level? Lack of punctuality I can understand... but that bit has thrown me.

I used to take telephone banking calls in a past life, loads of people said ‘love you, bye’ if you only had 1 or 2 a shift it was a low day. My stock answer was ‘we love you too’. I can well believe they’d ‘xxx’ John Lewis

Wow. That's quite some generalising!

That's quite funny.

never seen this hun xxx

Could it be that some people use autocorrect as an aid to typing, or to speed up their posts? I have a partially sighted friend who uses Siri to send messages, and people with issues such as dyslexia may well do the same.

I often see long, unpunctuated and unpredictably spelt ‘stream-of-consciousness’ type posts on here (AIBU and Relationships most commonly) which make me wonder if they have been spoken rather than typed. Those suffering a mental or emotional crisis (as well as those not educated well enough to find writing natural) may find it easier to compose their messages this way.

You’re absolutely right OP, huns are among us.

❤️
Thank you for existing. 😉

Yet again, a thread with people criticising other people's use of English while happily making the most basic mistakes themselves.

The arrogance is worthy of a Duning-Kruger study.

Genuinely no clue what you’re talking about, I did , however, get the point that you’ve moved abroad. That’s lovely!

Op is on the wind up!

Definitely haven't noticed this amongst any British women I know. But I'm a dual national and I would say I've definitely noticed it amongst young people in my home country (also English speaking), but more in the sort of early teens to mid-20s age bracket. I can't really even understand what some of them are saying, tbf! So I don't think it's a British thing. I think it's more a young text speak thing.

Haha I'm a comma splicer extraordinaire and often put kisses on the end of what I say to friends. That's because it's crappy FB. I still managed to get distinctions in my MA.

I'm really glad the expat group I'm on has a good standard of grammar. Then again they're mostly at minimum bilingual.