Why I will never stop calling Twitter a tweet

Okay, Musk, I get it, you've been calling Twitter "X" for almost a year now (there's a separate story about how he called all his businesses X in the beginning, probably some kind of psychological trauma). But enough time has passed for me to finally realise that I will not call Twitter "X". And here's why.

When Elon Musk decided to bury one of the most recognisable digital brand identities and replace it with a letter that can be found in any equation with an unknown, he forgot the most important thing: users are stubborn creatures. We are all used to tweeting, retweeting and reading tweets. And even if some corporate minister of truth appears tomorrow and fines us for "outdated terminology", I will continue to say "Twitter". Because this word is not just the name of a social network - it is a cultural code.

What's up with that X you have?

Seriously. "I re-ixed this post"? "Yesterday, my X re-iked another X"? "The company's official X page"? It all sounds like someone's vocabulary is broken. Even Musk himself doesn't seem to fully realise the extent of the problem: even though the social network's web address no longer contains twitter.com (it's forwarded to x.com), the "Share" button or the icon for the account on millions of websites still says "Twitter". Because, surprise, when you change the name of a platform that has existed for over 15 years, you need more than just repainting the logo black.

And most importantly, Twitter was cute. It was metaphorical. A bird chirps - a person tweets. It's so logical! And "X" is what? The last level in the game "guess what Musk wanted to say"?

Yes, have you heard the argument that we don't call LG Gold Star anymore? Yes, we do not. Because one meaning has been replaced by another. And the letters and the LG logo carry some new meanings and senses (Life is Good, if you didn't know). LG cannot be confused with any other company. And what can you confuse X with? Anything - any equation cannot do without this letter. Therefore, it is impossible to understand what meanings X carries apart from the unknown factor.

A lexical revolt

I am sure that most people will not change their language habits, because language is not software that can be updated at the touch of a button. Google is still "Google", not "Alphabet". Facebook will be Facebook for a long time, not Meta. And you know what? I'm absolutely fine with that.

So while someone in X's headquarters is planning the next "innovative" renaming, I'll keep tweeting. And you know what? I recommend you do the same. Because if Musk loves freedom of speech so much, let him get used to our freedom to speak as we wish.