Questions regarding the English alphabet.
39
votes
3answers
1k views
Is there a reason behind the ordering of letters in the English alphabet?
Is there a reason behind the ordering of letters in the English alphabet? i.e. why are we taught “A,B,C,D,E,F,...,Z”? Why not “L,A,S,U,I,Z,...,C”?
I am asking this because, in some of the languages I ...
21
votes
1answer
994 views
What's the name of this letter? [closed]
I came upon this letter when reading a book, I couldn't find its name on the internet, you can imagine how hard it is to search about it.
What is the name of the letter that follows "sample space"?
...
20
votes
2answers
2k views
Why is X used when we pronounce it Z?
I've seen a lot of words use an X but be pronounced with a Z. Mitch Hedberg put it best:
Xylophone is spelled with an X, that's wrong, xylophone's zzzz, X? I don't $%(@#& see it. It should be ...
16
votes
3answers
4k views
Ye olde english alphabet question: Any other letters lost besides thorn, edh, and yogh?
According to this link, we are missing (in Modern English) at least three letters that used to be in common use in English. These are thorn, edh, and yogh.
Are there others that were clearly in the ...
15
votes
1answer
650 views
Where did the names of English letters come from, and why are they all monosyllabic (except for “w”)?
I don't know too many languages, but the ones I know have more elaborate names for their letters than the monosyllabicity of names for English letters. (E.g. - I'll pick on Greek here - ay instead of ...
13
votes
2answers
327 views
Why is a w a “Double u”, but an m is not a “Double n”?
My 4 year old son just asked me this, and I have to say I am totally stumped.
I hate not telling him things, so here's hoping you guys can dig me out of this hole.
You can't fault his logic!
12
votes
6answers
819 views
Does the letter C serve any unique purpose? [closed]
Does the letter 'C' make any sound that cannot be made by other letters?
"Cat" could be spelled "Kat," "Cinder" could be spelled "Sinder," and "Watch" could be spelled "Watsh."
Edit:
An excerpt ...
8
votes
4answers
4k views
What word contains the most unique letters?
I'm assuming there isn't a word that contains every letter in the alphabet, so which word contains the most?
Examples:
antidisestablishmentarianism - 12 [antidseblhmr]
psychotherapy - 12 ...
8
votes
3answers
327 views
Is there any shorter pronunciation of W than double-U?
When spelling, every letter in the Alphabet is pronounced by a single syllable, with the only exception of W being pronounced "double-U". (Fun fact, in German it's approximately pronounced like the ...
8
votes
1answer
268 views
Anglicization of diacritical marks and non-English letters
In my understanding, many European cultures have compensated for the lack of certain characters on keyboards (especially old typewriters) by “anglicizing” some characters. For example, the German ß ...
7
votes
3answers
2k views
What is the proper way to write the plural of a single letter? (another apostrophe question)
When writing (a blog post, script, etc..) what is the proper way to indicate two or more instances of a single letter? For instance, in Monty Python's Bookshop Sketch:
C: I wonder if you might ...
5
votes
4answers
258 views
Does any of English dialects engage non-English foreign letters in their alphabets?
For example, In 1990 Portuguese alphabet was extended by 3 foreign letters which are K (capa, pronounced as "kappa"), Y (pronounced as "ípsilon or "ipsilão" or "i greg"), W (pronounced as "diáblio"). ...
5
votes
1answer
136 views
Does one consider “vs.” or “versus” when alphabetizing?
I work at a game store, and my manager insists that "versus" is to be considered when alphabetizing, and is not in the same league as "a, as, the, and, of, or," and the like.
Although I do deem it ...
4
votes
5answers
3k views
What are the conventional words for characters (A-Z)?
I have just read the newest post of DOGHOUSEDIARIES, and I am wondering whether the words for characters are fixed in the USA or the UK, as I am not a native English speaker.
For example:
A as in ...
4
votes
3answers
360 views
Is the word “formulæ” valid English?
Is the word formulæ, written with an æ at the end, valid in English? I stumbled upon this apparently plural form of formula in the Wiktionary.
I had no idea the letter æ could occur in English. Does ...
4
votes
2answers
2k views
Is “Roman alphabet” what we use for English?
I understand that the alphabet for the English language is not strictly English as languages such as French, Dutch and many more use the same alphabet, with few additions in other languages. Is Roman ...
3
votes
2answers
188 views
What is the origin of the different pronunciations of C and G before different vowels?
In English the letters C and G usually have different pronunciation before a/o/u and before e/i. The same is true for Romance languages - French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian etc.
What is the origin of ...
2
votes
1answer
546 views
Is there an English word containing the vowels ɤ or ɐ, and if not, which similar-sounding vowels are there in English? [closed]
I need examples for English words which contain the sounds ɤ (close-mid back unrounded vowel) and ɐ (schwa, an unstressed neutral vowel). But I am not sure if there are such words at all. If there ...
2
votes
4answers
266 views
Are there any plans to extend the English alphabet
Certain sounds possibly deserve their own letter in the alphabet, are there any indication that some more letter may be added to the English alphabet?
2
votes
2answers
312 views
What is the name of the basis writing stroke?
I can't recall the name of the standard writing stroke in the English script. Apologies in advance if this is off topic.
This stroke is the single vertical stroke fundamental to many letters. A ...
1
vote
2answers
416 views
What do we need for a stress in a word?
I am non-native in English, so this question may be a meaningless one or even a silly one. Why do we need a stress on one or more letters in a word? Indeed, a native person can read a word containing ...
1
vote
2answers
218 views
Why is the letter “w” the only letter in (basic) English alphabet that is not read as one syllable? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Why is a w a “Double u”, but an m is not a “Double n”?
Is there any reason/history as to why "w" is the only letter in English alphabet that is ...
1
vote
0answers
29 views
Where does alphabetical order come from? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is there a reason behind the ordering of letters in the English alphabet?
Alphabetical order seems something obvious, we do not usually ask ourselves if it is the best ...
1
vote
1answer
1k views
Is there a sentence containing every letter without repeating? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Shortest pangram
Does anyone know of a coherent sentence that contains every letter in the alphabet without repeating any?
0
votes
1answer
287 views
What is the term which encompasses accents, umlauts, etc? [closed]
Is there a term that covers grave and acute accents, umlauts, cedillas, tildes and all other characters that can be added to normal letters.
I have come across the word diacritics. But this seems to ...
0
votes
0answers
37 views
Perfect English Pangram [duplicate]
Is there a perfect pangram for English language, a sentence that uses all 26 English letters that appear only once?
Polish, Dutch and Russian, all has perfect pangrams.
Polish: Pójdźże, kiń tę ...
0
votes
0answers
33 views
Foreign names: Transcription or literal spelling? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How should foreign words (with foreign characters) be written in English text?
Sometimes, you want to use the names of foreign people in English texts. This presents no ...
-1
votes
0answers
76 views
Old English Latin Alphabet spelling query [closed]
I'm writing a small artist's book and I would like to write the simple phrase(s)
"I left my Mother/Father/Sisters/Lover/House/Heart" in some version of archaic English that is still vaguely ...
