# Xs for eyes **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 27, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xs-for-eyes/741462 "2015-12-27T14:57:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xs-for-eyes/741462/1 "2015-12-27T14:57:31Z")
. . . to show unconscious or dead, that is. So, I’m watching _Christmas Story_ for the billionth time and when Ralphie shoots the bad guys, they’re lying in a heap with Xs over their eyelids. The sudden thought popped into my head, “Where did that meme originate, anyway?” I’m guessing comic strips since with the simple drawing style, a character with closed eyes would look more asleep rather than comatose or worse. ---
**Author:** ![2gigch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2gigch1/32/3313_2.png) [@2gigch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2gigch1)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xs-for-eyes/741462/2 "2015-12-27T15:25:11Z")
I’m not sure but I think it was a common newspaper cartoon (comical) method of drawing a dead person, so the movie’s writers would likely draw on a period joke to indicate “dead people as Ralphie the child would have thought of them.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xs-for-eyes/741462/3 "2015-12-27T15:57:00Z")
I recall from somewhere that cartoonist[Peter Arno](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Arno)originated the Xs for eyes to represent drunk people. ---
**Author:** ![oara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b77776/32.png) [@oara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oara)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xs-for-eyes/741462/4 "2015-12-27T18:06:26Z")
It’d be interesting to have a whole list of conventions that kids had to figure out slowly when reading comics. I remember there were plenty that took me a while, like when charlie brown would say “_sigh_”, which I figured was pronounced like siggg. Or “_tsk-tsk_”. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xs-for-eyes/741462/5 "2015-12-27T18:12:23Z")
I believe Japanese manga are chock full of these kinds of visual codes, such as people’s heads suddenly being tiny or everyone drawn as children or in a much cruder cartoon style just for one frame or various kinds of icons circling in the air. I don’t know what any of them mean though. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xs-for-eyes/741462/6 "2016-01-01T10:56:10Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I believe Japanese manga are chock full of these kinds of visual codes, such as people’s heads suddenly being tiny or everyone drawn as children or in a much cruder cartoon style just for one frame or various kinds of icons circling in the air. I don’t know what any of them mean though. Oh, I know at least a couple of those. A big blue drop, often on the back of the head: They’re nervous or embarrassed about something. Crosshatch (sort of # but disconnected) on the forehead: They’re angry about something (pulsing veins). Nosebleed: They’re having a sexual thoughts. A lot of these have been carried over to anime.