男性互發短信留熱吻成潮流
Men have become so openly affectionate with each other using mobile technology that they've taken to signing off text messages to male friends with a kiss (x), giving rise to a new generation dubbed "Metrotextuals".
New research from mobile phone firm T-Mobile reveals nearly a quarter of men (22 percent) regularly include a kiss on texts to their male mates, T-Mobile said in a statement.
"Metrotextuality" is most widespread among 18-24 year old males with three quarters (75 percent) regularly sealing texts with a kiss and 48 percent admitting that the practice has become commonplace among their group of friends.
Nearly a quarter of this age group (23 percent) even appreciate an 'x' in a text exchange from people that aren't close friends.
But it's not just younger men that have become Metrotextuals - one in 10 men over 55 often completes a text to another male with a kiss, according to the poll.
The research also revealed there's a certain etiquette within metrotextuality. A lower case 'x' is the preferred sign-off for most (52 percent) compared to 17 percent for a bolder upper case 'X', with one in three sharing the love in a big way with multiple lower case kisses (xxx).
Clinical psychologist, Ron Bracey, said that men have traditionally been reluctant to share their emotions with friends and tended to keep their feelings bottled up.
"However, the advent of mobile phones and social media means more communication is done non-verbally, and through this it seems men can more easily share their feelings with others - especially their male friends," Bracey said in the statement.
Confirmed Metrotextual Nick Kirkham, aged 25, who works in insurance, said he and his friends have been sending kisses to each other for years.
"In fact, apart from my boss or a work client, there's no one I wouldn't send a kiss on text to," he said.
如今的男性表達情感的方式越來越大膽，竟有這樣一羣人在互發手機短信時，在結尾處互留熱“吻”符號(x）。這就是最新興起的“都市美信男”（譯者注：Metrotextual爲metrosexual一詞的變體）一族。
開展該調查的手機運營商T-Mobile公司在一份聲明中稱，近四分之一的受訪男性（22%）在給同性朋友發短信時會“獻上一吻”。
“都市美信男”以18歲至24歲的男性爲主。其中四分之三（75%）的受訪者常常“以吻封信”。48%的受訪者稱，這種做法在他們的朋友圈中已經很常見。
這一年齡段中近四分之一（23%）的人甚至能接受來自並不親密的朋友的吻。
但並非只是年輕人愛在發短信時留個吻。調查發現，在55歲以上的受訪者中，有十分之一的男性會這樣做。
調查還表明，“都市美信男”們還有自己的一套規矩。多數（52%）人在留吻時選用小寫的x，17%的人會更大膽地使用大寫X，其中三分之一的人則連發幾個小寫的“吻”(xxx)大表“愛意”。
臨牀心理學家羅恩•布里斯稱，過去，男人們都不太願意與朋友分享情感，而是更願意把感情埋在心裏。
布里斯在一份聲明中稱：“然而，手機和社會媒介的出現使得不用言語就可以進行更多的交流。這似乎使男性可以更容易地與他人，尤其是男性朋友們交流情感。”
從事保險工作的25歲的尼克•科克漢姆自稱爲“都市美信男”。他說自己和朋友在短信中互留吻已經很多年了。
他說：“其實除了老闆和客戶，我和其他人發短信都可以來上一‘吻’。”
Vocabulary:
sign off：to announce the end of a communication; conclude（結束寫信）
etiquette：conventional requirements as to social behavior; proprieties of conduct as established in any class or community or for any occasion（禮節）
lower case：small letters and often auxiliary types（小寫字體。下文中的upper case則是指大寫字體）
in a big way：to a great extent, conspicuously（徹底地，大規模地）
bottle up: to repress, control, or restrain（壓抑情緒）
non-verbally：without words（非言語的）
