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26 "chapter" ideas for a children's book on the letter "X". X is for way more than "X-ray" and "xylophone"!
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| "X is for..." | |
| 1. Xerces Blue (a type of butterfly.) (I think this is the coolest of the X words, by the way.) | |
| 2. Xenosaur ("slender-bodied Mexican lizards." Love any word that ends in "osaur".) (Thanks, @amyrhoda!) | |
| 3. Xiphias (genus for swordfish) | |
| 4. X marks the spot (on a treasure map) | |
| 5. Xenon (thanks @trybka!) | |
| 6. Xi'an (Home of the Terracotta Army. Sweet.) (Thanks, @gvwilson!) | |
| 7. X Prize (This /is/ rocket science.) | |
| 8. Railroad crossing sign. (It's a visual: http://www.roadtrafficsigns.com/Crossing-Sign/Railroad-Crossing-Sign/SKU-X-W10-1.aspx) | |
| 9. Xebec (Pirate ship. 'nuff said.) | |
| X. (Get it?) | |
| 11. XOXO ("hugs and kisses". From above, "O" looks like two people hugging. "X" looks like two people kissing.) | |
| 12. X chromosome | |
| 13. Xeme (An Arctic fork-tailed gull. Another X-animal. Who knew?) | |
| 14. Xenodocheionology ("Love of hotels and inns." Okay...) | |
| 15. Xanadu (Home of Charles Foster Kane) (Thanks, @mwhooker!) | |
| 16. Xenomorph (The alien in Alien.) (Thanks, @jeremyckahn!) | |
| 17. Cross country running (My high school sport. Typically abbreviated to XC or X-Country.) | |
| 18. Xerograph (Technical term for photocopy.) | |
| 19. Xylograph (An engraving on wood. Also known as "woodcut" See: M. C. Escher. QED.) | |
| XX. (Too cute?) | |
| 21. Xerxes the Great (Old school bad ass from ancient Persia.) | |
| 22. Bell X-1 (Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier.) | |
| 23. X-15 (USAF spaceplane. "As of 2011, it holds the official world record for the fastest speed ever reached by a manned rocket-powered aircraft." Oh, and Neil Armstrong flew one before that moon thing...) | |
| 24. Xenium (Ancient Greek/Roman word for a gift to a stranger or guest.) | |
| 25. Xylophone (The penultimate X word.) | |
| 26. X-ray (Of course, we end the book with this one.) | |
| Contenders: | |
| - Xoogler (Former Googler. Thanks, @dgoldenberg!) | |
| - St. Francis Xavier (Roman Catholic missionary. Aspired to be big in Japan, before that was a thing.) | |
| - XD (Emoticon for laughing) | |
| - Xzibit (Yo dawg! Ye, of Pimp My Ride fame. http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/xzibit-yo-dawg) | |
| - XKCD (Is there really no XKCD cartoon for the X is not For X-ray meme?) | |
| - X-Acto knife (Can't cut balsa without it!) | |
| - Fox (If we're breaking taboos here, why can't an X-word /end/ in X?) | |
| - Box | |
| - Project X (The Best Matthew Broderick film. Ever! Okay, 2nd to Ferris Bueller. Oh, and War Games...) | |
| - Planet X (a stand-in term for any undiscovered planet in the outer Solar System) | |
| - Xenogenesis (James Cameron's first film. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251488/) | |
| - Xenophilia (means an affection for unknown objects or peoples) | |
| - Xenophobia (The opposite of xenophilia.) (Thanks, @brainsik!) | |
| - Xena | |
| - XL (Extra large) | |
| - Xbox | |
| - XOR (logic gate) | |
| - x86 (Thanks @voodootikigod!) | |
| - X-Men (Thanks @jackdawson!) | |
| - Xylotomy (Art of preparing sections of wood.) (Thanks, @danilocelic!) | |
| - xeriscaping: (Gardening without water.) (Thanks, @amyrhoda!) | |
| - X-walk http://www.flickr.com/photos/biketrip2006/4587021885/ (Thanks, @brainsik!) | |
| - Xenotransplantation | |
| - Xenobiology (study of life on other planets) (Thanks, @chris_mcmahon!) | |
| - Xerotic (It's not what you think it is.) | |
| - "X" is for multiplying two numbers | |
| - X Games | |
| - xUnit | |
| - XML (thanks @cgoldberg!) | |
| - XP (Extreme Programming) | |
| - X Window System | |
| - XPath (thanks @AutomatedTester!) | |
| - :x is for "save and exit in vim" (thanks @s_bergmann!) | |
| - XP (Windows) | |
| - X is for ecstasy, the drug. (Kids, don't do drugs, M'kay?) | |
| - x-rated (Um, yeah, this one's not going in a kids book.) | |
| - X-Files | |
| - Xmas | |
| - Xanax | |
| - "Solve for x" | |
| - Sign by the x | |
| - "X" is for closing tabs and windows in a graphical operating system | |
| Meta-suggestions (Where to find more suggestions): | |
| - http://www.crosswordsolver.org/definition/X (Thanks, @danilocelic!) | |
| - "egrep -i '^x' /etc/dictionaries-common/words" (Thanks, @tebeka!) | |
| - http://www.encyclo.co.uk/webster/X/1 | |
| - http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=x | |
| For the UK edition: | |
| - "X for breakfast" (I had to google it.) (Thanks, @illicitonion) | |
| Copyright 2009-2014 Jason Huggins (and those mentioned above). | |
| How you can help: | |
| - Find someone to illustrate each chapter | |
| - Catalog all kids "alphabet books". Determine the percentage that use "X-ray" or "xylophone" for the letter X. I'm guessing 99%. | |
| - Moar X word suggestions! (Send to @hugs on twitter) |
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