How do you draw an X? Twitter is divided over it.

It's reminiscent of the whole Yanny/Laurel debate of 2018.
By Shannon Connellan  on 
How do you draw an X? Twitter is divided over it.
How exactly do you draw an X? Left, right, up, down? Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Draw an X. I'll wait.

Now, how did you go about it? The left stroke first, downward, then the right, or the right stroke first, upward? Turns out there are multiple ways.

The question of how folks instinctively draw an X has gone viral, thanks to a thread by Twitter user @SMASEY. It's divided Twitter in a way we haven't seen since the whole Yanny/Laurel debate of 2018.

"Which way do you draw an X?" she asked, presenting eight possibilities, each showing a different colour for the first stroke and arrows indicating the direction of the strokes.

Some people were confident in their answer, others less so. Many, like myself, weren't even really aware there were multiple ways to draw an X — for the record, I'm a seven.

Which way do you X?

Topics Twitter

A black and white image of a person with a long braid and thick framed glasses.
Shannon Connellan

Shannon Connellan is Mashable's UK Editor based in London, formerly Mashable's Australia Editor, but emotionally, she lives in the Creel House. A Tomatometer-approved critic, Shannon writes about everything (but not anything) across entertainment, tech, social good, science, and culture.


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