A Conversation for Miscellaneous Chat

X-Men - A misnomer?

Post 1

MMF - Keeper of Mustelids, with added P.M.A., is now in a relationship.

I saw a trailer for X-Men, the trilogy on British television and a random thought flew across my remaining grey cell.

Surely the name X-Men is a misnomer.

Shoukdn’t It be Y-Men, as men are composed of XY chromosomes, whereas women are XX?

Or maybe even XY-Men?

smiley - erm

Hmmmmmm.

MMF

smiley - musicalnote


X-Men - A misnomer?

Post 2

Superfrenchie

Then again, there are women in the X-men, so we could suggest "XY-and-XX Wo-Men" smiley - doh

Seriously though, I've always taken the X to stand for Professor Xavier.
So they should probably be "X's Men (and Women)". smiley - biggrin


X-Men - A misnomer?

Post 3

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

In genetics, there are numerous conditions in which the X chromosome hosts defective recessive genes. Color-blindness is one such condition. If a woman has this gene in one of her X chromosomes, if the other chromosome is normal it masks the problem, but if she passes the problem X to her son, who has no X to mask it, he becomes color blind.

The whole point of the X-men is that they have genetic mutations that give them unusual powers. These mutations may be recessive in the general population, but the fortunate or unfortunate few who inherit these X-derived powers without anything to mask them will be mutants. I assume that the female X-men have both X's with the mutations.


X-Men - A misnomer?

Post 4

Bluebottle

What if they're called X-Men 'cos they lived in and attended Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters? 'X-Men' could be short for 'Xavier's Mansion dwellers'smiley - silly

<BB<


X-Men - A misnomer?

Post 5

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

Yes, that would work fine. smiley - smiley


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