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> 2000 - 2017, X.com was property of PayPal. Musk then buys it back in 2017... and then here we are.

I was just wondering how in the world did Elon manage not to sell "x.com" to a porn company for shits and giggles. It being in the custody of PayPal explains that.



Likely he just has a fetish for the letter x


Everyone did circa 2000. You've got Generation X in the news, FFX came out, Xbox, X Games, ActiveX.


> You've got Generation X

Finally! Someone remembered us!


This is not the context for which I wish to be remembered.


Also an OK novel by Douglas Coupland.


XxXElonXxX


I almost forgot. In 2001, Six Flags Magic Mountain opened a rollercoaster named X.


Mac OS X


Xerox did it first.

And don’t forget google’s X department.


Xfiles Fans doing horrors to branding..


I was good marketing indeed, but microsoft is not rebranding to Xsoft or xSoft


eXtreme Doritos and other extreme snacks also came from this era.


x men and xena


Timex, AMEX


x files


Remember that his daughter with Grimes is literally named "X" because he thinks the letter is cool.


> his daughter with Grimes is literally named "X”

That’s the son - the daughter is “Y”

https://news.yahoo.com/grimes-says-she-changed-her-095553857...


Feels like he got that one backwards


Maybe that's the joke?


it's not funny. those children are sentient beings


Plenty of children are given less interesting names.

Or, in the US, phonetically-mispelled names.


phonetically misspelled names, while kinda weird, aren't really on the same level as this tbh.

I guess my point is naming someone isn't really the place for wacky creativity.


idk, dude is pretty anti-trans and his current trans child hates him (at this point, who knows which direction that causality goes). the joke is one that might hit too close to home for that bigot.


Musk is not exactly popular with us trans people


Please sign, right here, next to the x.

That is my signature.


I'm surprised he doesn't rename himself X X X.


XXX Musktacion


I thought of the Vin Diesel XXX to be honest.


Just wait until he changes his middle name to s3xy.


Tesla Models S, 3, X and Y together spell S3XY


Yeah, he failed at that. Originally he wanted to have Model E but Ford holds rights to naming cars with that letter.


He should rename Tesla to "XSpace" so his companies become "X X X."


Dude already had SpaceX before they forced him out.

- X (PayPal)

- X (Twitter)

- SpaceX

- Tesla


In the Netherlands this would be illegal but in libertarian America children are the extension of their parents.


Serious question, how are names ever supposed to evolve or change if they are limited by the state? Or are there exceptions for "good" newly created names? Having a weird first name isn't even a hindrance given how frequently people go by nicknames or middle names and ironically they often do that to avoid being called by a more traditional name like Hubert or Mirabel. You can also just change your name if you don't like it.


Probably depends a bit what example you're looking at.

Iceland has a very traditional name system which is enforced. I think the idea is basically that names won't evolve so they can preserve tradition.

Sweden on the other hand has a pretty vague "name can't be likely to cause child psychological harm" law, that doesn't really come into play unless you try to name your child something really outside the mainstream (there was a case a while back where a couple wanted to call their daughter "Metallica". I can't remember how that ended up going).

I don't see how the Swedish-style system would stop names evolving. There are still plenty of trends and new names that come and go just like in the US. I doubt extreme name choices like Elon's "x-ash-12" would inspire a whole bunch of children to be called that.


Starting from the assumption that some names are bad[0] then it is an act of balancing.

[0] I would claim that calling someone "Mat the fucking dumbshit" or "Poopface" is child abuse


> Well, I grew up quick, and I grew up mean. And my fists got hard, and my wits got keen...

> He stood there looking at me, and I saw him smile, and he said, "Son, this world is rough, and if a man's gonna make it he's gotta be tough, and I know I wouldn't be there to help you along. So I give you that name, and I said goodbye. And I knew you'd have to get tough or die. And it's that name that helped make you strong..."

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WOHPuY88Ry4


For everyone that grows stronger and wiser under adversity there is someone tha become weak and broken.

The approach of "you need to be prepared for the cruelty of the world so I will be cruel to you" feels like a parody of proper upbringing.


> like a parody of proper upbringing

It was a Johnny Cash song -- he wasn't known for writing ballads of utopian suburbia.


Point

------

Your head

Mr Cash was in no way endorsing the behavior...


I'm guessing you've never listen to the whole song?


“And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna name him Bill or George, anything but Sue! I still hate that name!”

So no, not endorsing.


Yes I have, and Read the lyrics.

Have you?

(See other respondent for proof you havent)


The verse before that?


I'm not the one who quoted a verse...


:) Enjoy your conversation.


Also cruelty doesn't translate to fitness anymore. It's just negative emotional investment. But it's signaling "if worst comes to worst my people come first" which is the loudest tribalism signal in a breaking down peace period society reentering the loop.


Sociopaths going to path


I asked my father

I said, "Father, change my name

The one I'm using now it's covered up

With fear and filth, and cowardice and shame"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=FYkJuAb0mMk

;)


>You can also just change your name if you don't like it.

After you're 18 and after you've experienced some of the most intense social moments of your life.

It's like literally everything else with kids. Parents have a ton of autonomy but there has to be a line where they aren't allowed to hurt their kid further


If you've got a list of perfect names that no one will ever be teased about then go ahead and share them.


There is no need for names to evolve.

Based on what you said, let the kid have a proper name and then they themselves can change to weird as they wish later. Stupid parents have no right to give a stupid joke name to others.


I propose a compromise:

- Parents may only choose names for their children from a list of the top 1000 or so names in whatever country parents choose

- It is permissible to change your own name to anything you like


Is there any state in the world that doesn't limit names?


Depends what you mean by limit but I'm choosing to interpret it as "exert undue influence over the choice of the parent". The UK's restrictions on names containing obscenities, numerals, misleading titles, or are impossible to pronounce seems reasonable although you could make arguments against all of those e.g. some words or names in other languages are obscenities in English and vice versa, numerals are traditionally used as a suffix to distinguish generations with the same name so why not be able to be Nathan3421, misleading titles is a bit stuffy and incongruous with existent names like Major, Judge, Prince, etc., impossible to pronounce already describes many names if you are not familiar with the native language. After all of that, I honestly don't think there is a good reason to restrict a name. Maybe the only limit I could think of would be to prove that it is given in good faith and not for some malevolent purpose.


Parents should not have undue influence on other's (the kid) life as they wish by giving a stupid name. Instead parents should change their own name to xxx if they like it so much.


I think most US states only require the name to fit in their database. They may also require Latin based alphabets or be even just English alphabet with no extra marks and may ban some punctuation or numerical characters. But probably no other restrictions


You probably can't pick obscenity in the US but otherwise anything goes. (Semantically/phonetically at least - orthography is a bit more limited.)

That most European countries have a whitelist of names was one of the more shocking parts of moving here.


> That most European countries have a whitelist of names was one of the more shocking parts of moving here.

I believe this is very much wrong.


I think nerd culture in-jokes seem to be his thing, so in this case XCOM the video game series.




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