That didn’t take long! The next-generation Xbox was announced last night, and people online already have nicknames for it.
In the English-speaking world, it’s either being called “Xbox Sex” or simply “Sex,” a shortening of “Series X.”
I gotta give Microsoft credit, they picked another name I never in a million years would have guessed. Xbox Series X. But I kinda like it, does the internet shorten it to Xbox SeX?
— Andy McNamara (@TheRealAndyMc) December 13, 2019
https://twitter.com/embed/status/1205309563722821632
https://twitter.com/embed/status/1205348884748177408
https://twitter.com/embed/status/1205322201580261377
https://twitter.com/embed/status/1205461159253598208
In Japan, it’s also being called “Xbox Sex” as well as another nickname, Shiri X (尻X) or “Butt X.”
The Xbox has long had naming issues in Japan. The letter “X” in Japan is batsu, means “no,” “no good,” “impossible,” “bad,” or even “futile.” The word batsu can also mean “punishment.”
The Xbox has also been somewhat derisively referred to as “hako” (箱) or “box.”
In Japanese, Xbox Series X is Xbox シリーズX (shiriizu X). But Xbox X said phonetically in Japanese that is エックスボックスエックス (ekkusu bokkusu ekkusu), which sounds kind of like “Xbox Sex” to Japanese ears.
Soon after the new console’s announcement, people on 2ch, Japan’s biggest web forum, began goofing on all the Xs in the name, writing things like:
“Do they like X that much?”
“Is that XXX?”
“XBOXSEX”
“They gonna sell that effing box here?”
“x0xb0x?”
“XXX for short.”
“I will even get Xbox Sex.”
“That looks big.”
“BOXXX is better”
“XXX SEXBOX XXX”
“That’s too big for Japanese homes.”
“XBOXX XXOXX XXXXX”
“Current: Xbox X After that: Xbox Xo … In the future: Xbox Xobx And then: Xbox Xobx X”
“SEXBOX?”
“Their naming sense is batsu.”
However, on Twitter, people started shorting Series X in Japanese (シリーズX or Shiiriizu X) to Shiri X (尻X), which means “Butt X.”
In Japanese, Butt X seems to be the nickname that will stick.
