^W vs. ^X

In Emacs, a text editor originating in the 1980s, the command equivalent to ^X (the cut in cut and paste) is ^W.

Today in writing a comment, not once but twice in a row, I used ^W instead of ^X to cut something preparing to paste it elsewhere.

I'm losing my mind.

EDIT: It occurs to me, I should have said that both times I typed ^W, my screen disappeared with my editing.