Here's how office affairs start

However, according to the survey the electronic "kiss" is often initially a misunderstanding.

Both men and women assume that receiving a message ending in an X is a come-on and usually sent when a colleague is being friendly.

For the survey, dating website WhatsYourPrice.com surveyed 1000 British office workers about the significance of an X in texts and emails.

It found the X is instigating sex - accidentally and intentionally.

"We are learning so much about the whole etiquette of dating through (texts, emails and) the internet," News.com.au quoted Founder Brandon Wade as saying.

"It allows couples to establish intimacy much more quickly and freely express exactly what they want. That has to be a good thing," Wade said.

The survey found that about 40 percent of women and 10 percent of men reportedly put an X in emails to their boss.

About 86 percent said they innocently put a "kiss" in mails to colleagues.

According to the survey, 55 percent of women and 60 percent of men who had engaged in an office romance said it had been sparked by Xs in messages.

About 35 percent of women and 25 percent of men reported their virtual kisses as being wrongly interpreted as sexual.

The electronic kiss is also an effective means of spicing up a first date as the possibility of intimacy skyrockets almost 90 percent if an SMS with the powerful X is sent immediately before the get-together.
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