text:
I always thought the character of an Ampersand '&' came about as a quick writing of 'et'–the Latin for 'and' and that later printmakers and typographers created the '&' character for printing presses and later–typewriters. >0<
Johnson & Johnson, Barnes & Noble, Dolce & Gabbana: the ampersand today is used primarily in business names, but that small character was once the 27th part of the alphabet. Where did it come from though? The origin of its name is almost as bizarre as the name itself.
The shape of the character (&) predates the word ampersand by more than 1,500 years. In the first century, Roman scribes wrote in cursive, so when they wrote the Latin word et which means "and" they linked the e and t. Over time the combined letters came to signify the word "and" in English as well. Certain versions of the ampersand, like that in the font Caslon, clearly reveal the origin of the shape.
The word "ampersand" came many years later when "&" was actually part of the English alphabet. In the early 1800s, school children reciting their ABCs concluded the alphabet with the &. It would have been confusing to say "X, Y, Z, and." Rather, the students said, "and per se and." "Per se" means "by itself," so the students were essentially saying, "X, Y, Z, and by itself and." Over time, "and per se and" was slurred together into the word we use today: ampersand. When a word comes about from a mistaken pronunciation, it's called a mondegreen. Find out why here.
(The ampersand is also used in an unusual configuration where it appears as "&c" and means etc. The ampersand does double work as the e and t.)
The ampersand isn't the only former member of the alphabet. Learn what led to the extinction of the thorn and the wynn.
Are there other symbols or letters you would like to learn about? The most popular choice below will be our focus in the near future.
I always thought the character of an Ampersand '&' came about as a quick writing of 'et'–the Latin for 'and' and that later printmakers and typographers created the '&' character for printing presses and later–typewriters. >0<
The origin of the dollar sign comes from the overlaying of the letters U & S as in "United States" currency. eventually the bottom rocker was omitted leaving the dollar sign as an "S" with two vertical lines superimposed. My dollar sign Key only shows one vertical line instead of two, still suggesting the Dollar Sign.
It's not unlikely that the percent symbol came from or is related to the fractional notation. x/y is a relationship between two numbers – "x is to y". Look at the division symbol •/• (the slash is generally more horizontal to completely horizontal) and percent symbol %. The basic difference is whether the circle is empty or filled.
Perhaps the people who came up with the symbols used them to show whether or not the math is to BE done (•/•) or is ALREADY done (%). After all when you do the math on 3/5 you end up with 60%.
I agree with RS. Where did the % sign come from? It looks like a fraction…
Where did % come from? I guess $ came from S (for shilling) and €.
Where did % come from?
e + t =&
Wait a sec…make that "elemenopee"!
Wonder what the letters "L","M", "N", "O", and "P" may evolve to? "elomenopee"? Let's see a symbol for that…
Really cool! I knew it used to be a letter but its naming! Sensational!
I never knew this was called an "ampersand" and I certainly never would've guessed that it WAS a letter in the alphabet. You guys may be wanting that letter back, but I'm gonna lay low on this one. Hmm, amazing
Yay for mondegreens! They are the underdogs of word evolution.
I like cats, and I already knew this! and i'm only 10! but wait what about the and sign I use? the one that looks like a capital b?
I wonder what the 69th letter of the alphabet would be? O.o :3 lol
it looks like the and symbol =)
it looks like the and symbol
wow! who would've guessed?
[...] – Dictionary.com – Wikipedia – Holorime – Wikipedia – Mondegreen – Wikipedia – Vers holorimes – [...]
A place called Ampersand in Fife Scotland. Look at the sign carefully
I never knew that, interesting.
Am I the only person that thinks of the band Of Mice and Men when I see an ampersand?
[...] http://blog.dictionary.com/ampersand/ [...]
I THINK THIS IS REALLY WEIRD DON'T U? -_- -.- :0 :O D: (<——-some of my faces when I was reading this)
[...] "&" used to be the 27th letter of the alphabet. The name ampersand comes from the fact that … [...]
*mind blown*
[...] 4. & used to be the 27th letter of the alphabet [...]
wow, & is a letter!?
I would like to know about why the letter "s" was written elongated sometimes, resembling the "f" letter.
It is a symbol for "and." Which is why it's better off as a symbol rather than a letter.
The extinction of a letter
Not a very usual thing to hear or think about and yet it happens every once in a while
Eminem is the same as an M&M. Hard on the outside and black on the inside. Also, Jesus&Mary sittin in a gutter….hehehehe. It sucks to be white
How about the letters "Þ" and "Д, which used to be in the English alphabet but are no longer. They were both replaced by "th". I would love to know why/how.
awesome, neva knew dat!
I thought it was some sort of symbol for "and" that's what I was tought.
So then, could I substitute "&" for "et" in words like Chevrol& (Chevrolet), s& (set), or quart& (quartet)?
"&: The Extraterrestrial" Sounds like Spielberg has a new hit.
Im cool
Is M&M's a word? If it is, there might be many other words you can create. If there are, are there any words with ampersands (&) in them in Dictionary.com?
i think hat it was smart to remove that letter. you can not put & in any word, can you? and that is the whole purpose of the alphabet
I agree Hunter.
We still sing this in the alphabet song: "W, X, Y, _&_ Z." I'm kind of surprised no one commented that this should NOT be a letter because it stands for a word rather than a sound. But then, judging from the fact that many of you did not know the information contained in the article, I wouldn't expect many of you to realize that. Get a life, people!
"Et cetera" is Latin for "and the rest." It's used when you have a long list of similar things and you don't want to list all of them: "She has every kind of novel imaginable – sci-fi, romance, adventure, etc."
I agree, I just call it a squiggle. I use it after a quotation, just before the name of whoever said the quotation. In the font Footlight MT Light, this: – looks like this: ~, only tilted.
@Antinus Maximus:
No. Dictionary.com IS my Facebook.
Wow, you're right. I never thought of it that way before!
jamya – April 19, 2012 – 2:46 p.m.
wow i dont have a face book but this is the next best thing to it ik im a weirdo <3
That's so funny I didn't know that
To Shah Danyal who asked about the origin of "et al." : "et" of course means and "al." is an abbreviation of "alia", meaning "others". It means "and others" and is generally used only when referring to people. If only "al" is used rather than "alia", "al" should have a period as befits an abbreviation.
Evan: "et cetera" means "and the rest", and can be read simply as that. There is an implication though that it means a little more specifically "and the rest of such thing things" so that the things referred to but not named should be of the same nature as the ones expressed.
"et seq." (figured I'd toss that in) is an abbreviation for the Latin "et sequentes" or "et sequentia", meaning "and that which follows." Itis used almost exclusively in law or academic articles.
Ethan: "W" as a vowel: most Scrabble players know, and are grateful for, the word "cwm", which is the Welsh term for a valley or more specifically a cirque ("a steep bowl-shaped hollow occurring at the upper end of a mountain valley, especially one forming the head of a glacier or stream." – standard definition used by many dictionaries). It is pronounced "coom". Remember that "W" is "double u", not "double V" notwithstanding the way it is written in print, and "double u" as a vowel pronounced "oo" makes sense.
awesome!!!!!!!!! &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&7 ;););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););););)
I think I should spread that to the world.
Hey world there was a 27th letter
[...] Ltd. (limited), LLC (limited liability company), etc. (et cetera). Some names include and, some an ampersand, and some start with the. What are the [...]
weird that is.
The combination of "oe" or "ae" as in foetus and Caesar are essentially diphthongs pronounced as one sound. They have been bonded, forming a ligature to produce one sound, not two. Some in English once had a dieresis (2 dots) over a vowel when two vowels came together as in the word oogonium, which I thing is a spore. In German they use an umlaut; in French it's a dierese, and I think it's a trema in Spanish.
I didn't know that either LOL and my teacher was like, OMGYG2BK!
That was freakin awesome to know I bet u no-one knew that
Can't wait to see the comments pass 1000!
I could careless about the post…the comments are what's amazing!!
look at the amount of comments! amazing they haven't blocked it yet…
lol i'm the 700th comment
That's amazing!!! I never listened before……..
I have learn a lot I become intelligent
Etcetera actually is Latin for "and again". Spelt Et Cetera
I agree, BOBBY BLUEBEAR
I think that the true engish literature was among the aglo saxons as they created many charcters in our alphabet today such as the letters 'F' and 'U' – anyway thats what I read.
Wonderful comments with incredible information. Everyone should participate in dialogue like this. I've learned so much just reading about the '&'. Thanks everyone!
What's up colleagues, its wonderful article regarding educationand entirely explained, keep it up all the time.
here comes a new letter!
It's just awesome.
For example, shoes, pants, &c. By the way the & in the picture is butter.
Awesome, just awesome…
A very nice read and a great article!
(Jon, et al): Characters that are tied together (ae, oe, fi, and so forth) are called "ligatures" (meaning tied together). Many modern electronic fonts have them. Some fonts have tem in separate versions, sometimes called "extended fonts" or "expert fonts."
How did this sign @ get started???
Okay, we got rid of the '&'; now we can start bulldozing 'x'.
I recall, in 1949, Mrs. Omadel Reed taught us kindergarteners the alphabet adding "ampersand" at the end. It we never mentioned, however, after I commenced into grade school, consequently I was grown before I knew what the Sam Hill she was talking about.
[...] there's ampersand, considered the 27th letter of the English alphabet until about 150 years ago. It's name comes from its position at the [...]
[...] How ampersand came from a misunderstanding [...]
The letter looks like a "and" sign
I didn't know there was a 27th letter of the alphabet.Maybe we can use it in the future.
i wish it still was…….. it would make life much easier. :\
thats amazing.& i also wanted to say im from:
puerto rico!!
USA and United States of America
Which one is acronym and which one is antonym?
I'd be cool if LMFAO became a letter
I'd be like the band
oh dear god .-.
Jon those are letters in french the combined letters
[...] or tweet), but the ampersand has had a long and storied history in English, and was actually frequently included as a 27th letter of the alphabet as recently as the 19th [...]
COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!i did not know that
OMG i did not know that it is soooooooo insteresting
[...] post was inspired by a fascinating article on ampersands on Dictionary.com. You'll have to go read it to see everything that's so fascinating [...]
Wow, that's pretty awesome.
w would be a good one is it two u.s or its own letter and what does it mean and the q. is it related to the g? the x too! and last where do I find the next post about this topic?
" Wow Interesting I my self didn't know that Cool and I Am A Sixth Grader .!
random stuff
wow i'm flabberasted never would have guessed!!!!!!! :p
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& is so awesome!!!! but doesn't it go "Y & Z"?
————–. that's spit. is : and D, is : and ), same thing with everything.
OHHHH… so that's why we say, "Y and Z"… or, "Y & Z"
Wow, I do use that "letter" every day
Don't we still use "and" when we say the alphabet? W X Y and Z
Just want to say your article is as astonishing. The clearness on your publish is simply excellent and that i can suppose you are an expert in this subject.
Fine along with your permission let me to snatch your feed to stay updated with approaching post.
Thank you a million and please continue the gratifying work.
I just called it the and sign….I never knew there was a 27th letter!
lol that so cool i learnt something 2 day hehehe :0
I think that it is dumb to have 27 letters in the alphabet. 26 is enough. It doesn't even look like a letter, just a random symbol that someone decided should be a letter. We went from 24 letters, to 26 letters and now people are confusing us with 27 letters. Also, this is something lol my friend showed me. :8(0)!!!!! Old Grandpa!
And here I thought that I was the only person who randomly looked at stuff like this on the internet…I had no clue that as many people as this were interested in random bits of info.
why does everyone assume it was the last letter? -_- maybe it was before "a" or in the middle or something. and by the way, these guys were right. there's 2 b's in the article on dolce & gabbana
I already knew it was called the ampersand… And I've always said "y and z" not "y, z, and," so I wasn't really surprised upon finding out it was part of the alphabet at one point.
And/& this is cool. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Agree with Jon! xD
fascinating! but why dont they use it now????????? wait sorry i know. but sooooooooooooooo coooooooooooooooool
thats so cool!!!!!!
[...] Source [...]
thats so coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool.
Wow! Never knew that! Maybe $,@, and* follow
the same thing LOL
Use an ampersand [&] as a conjunctive within clauses (where Latin uses –que) and the conjunctive 'and' between clauses (where Latin uses et). Never use 'and' within a clause.
As regards distinguishing between these levels of conjunction, English as commonly used is at present syntactically deficient & inferior. However, English is a living language and this can be rectified by awareness & discipline. The ampersand is pronounced 'n'.
IMPOSSIBRU! hahahaha cool
wow .
furthermore miss moo, you seem to have the intelligence of a small abandoned ape with no sense of sight, hearing, or smell, emphasis on smell.
Frankly, I must say you rather smell like one too.
Samantha Moo or whatever, I went to private school. You should really check out Bo's page. Random facts. I am a 6th grader in public school now and happier. So if you would kindly stop making people such as my self feel inferior and unimportant, it would be a widely appreciated gesture.
We also learned what @,etc, and i.e means. The one article where latin actually helps you understand something…
It is so cool how & is the 27th letter of the alphabet because in latin we just learned all about it and the latin word et. I dont know why they got rid of it…..
Coolio! &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
you learn something new everyday.
In what position was this "letter" in?
Wow. I never new.
thats cool
LOL I didn't know that
Thanks dictionary.com
never knew dat. :O
eeeeeeeppppppppiiiiiiccccccccc B)
i've been using that symbol and i never knew it was a letter!
so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! never knew that!
thats cool did anyone notice though it looks like a guy dragging his but on the floor & O.o
Oh and, samantha monroe, clearly the world is a much brighter place because it has you in it!
Why is 'W' called 'double U' instead of 'double V'? Clearly it looks like two V's close together, not U's. I've always wondered about that.
Hey, i just noticed something, when you say, "A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K," and so on, until the letters,"X,Y, & Z" DONT YOU SEE?!?!?!? THE WORD AND (&) IS IN IT!!!!!!!!
This is pretty cool,but to long.
THAT IS SOOOOO COOOOOOLLLLLLL!!!! I would have never thought of that
[...] ampersand — now a commonly used symbol –was actually once a letter of the alphabet. Two other extinct letters ? The thorn and the [...]
I didn't know that.. lol
awesome to learn about this its coooooooooooooooolllllllllllllllllllllll
That's so weird, considering that we are STILL using that symbol.
that is so cool
I did not know that
"X, Y, Z, and and!"
That is sooooooooooooooooooooo cool and to know that! I had no ideal that "and" was apart of the alphabet ever. I feel smarter than a 5th grader. LOL!!!!!! I can't to go share with my kids.
wow i never knew that cooool
Higlac- i thought "umlaut" was the name for the two dots over a vowel, like ë….if its not, then what is???
Fascinating! Thanks for the history of this symbol.
what is civil engineering material and concrete tecnology
Some people mentioned the ~ line. That (key) is called the tilde key. BUT that line is not the the tilde. This ` is the tilde. (Not to be confused with the apostrophe: ' ). I usually say it is a squiggly or wavy line. But MY question is, what are these: { } called. My math teacher called them fancy brackets, but it is clear that is not the name.
This is so awesome!
I knew that I learened that in Kindergarden
What is the origin of the dollar sign ($)?
'However, it actually comes from a handwritten 'ps', an abbreviation for 'peso' in old Spanish-American books.'
what is this, * ,called?
This is the best thing I've ever read.
LOL. Im surprised Poe nevr used it
Never even crossed my mind that they originally had a 27th letter in the alphabet, amazing.
Cwrth is also a word
So W is a vowel in some cases
[...] "The Hot Word" article from Dictionary.com sprung a few surprises on me. First, that the ampersand was an ancient Latin creation, the cursive amalgam of e and t for "et," the Latin word for "and." But it wasn't named until the 1800s. Seriously. [...]
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't know that! So coooool "&" weird at the same time. I'm telling my friends "&" family about that sooooooooooooo cooooooooool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i did not know that thanks
I'm gonna ask people who know what an ampersand is to say "and per se and" and see if they come up with ampersand. Thanks for the tongue twister.
Nerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrdah! Wow, i'm a little scared. I actually found that INTERESTING. am I crazy?! OMG WTH…lMHO! lololololol!!!!! ^ v ^
wow i had no idea that & was a letter in the alphabet!!!!!
What about the hash tag #?
I had NO IDEA that there were any letters DELETED from the alphabet, and I'm supposed to be a SPELLING GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow I always thought it was just the short form of and
I didn't even know that.
This is rachet
In 'et cetera' there is an 'et' in 'cetera', so could it be '& c&era"?
OMG ( GASP ) I never knew this! This is sssssssssssssooooooooooooo cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm like totally going to send this to my friends "&" families! BTW I'm also going to tell them how cool HOTword is! Tee Hee!
awesome, I did not know that.
[...] the ampersand symbol lost its place in the alphabet, it will never lose its place in our hearts. If you're also a fan of the elegant symbol, you [...]
I already knew that, you all are stupid if you didn't know that. Clearly you all went to public school ,because you would have known this if you all would have gone to private school like me they teach you everything there. The only reason I am on the site because my sister did not know what she was doing,and typed in dicktionary and it brought her here. that is how she spelled it not me. Obviously I know the alphabet and how to spell.Thank you for spending time reading my post. That just goes to show that any of you have lives .Bye!
Spelled my name wrong..
Cool did not know that…
Wow! A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, W, X, Y, Z, &
i still sing it like that but i never knew this lol
So ampersand doesn't seem to have ever been a proper letter, but a word–since it signifies a conjunction, and not a sound for building words, like all the other letters are.
Discovery! Wow & Wow!
.______________________________. Uhmmm, Hi.! (/.\) c:
-_______- People And Their Dumb Comments… Smh.
Bwahahahahaha.! Uhmmm ._____. … Hi.! (/.\)
Wow… Such letter is a loner…:/
THATS SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i <3 this site
now i can use & with pride.
ok here it is: the @ symbol. WHY is there a circle there?!?!??!!? it drives me crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Makes sence when kids sing a-b-c…x-y-&-z but didn't know it used to follow the z rather than precede it.
hmm… very interesting :3
is that why we sometimes sing "w, x, y, AND, z" so it sound better than singing "w, x, y, z, and per se and"
Cool but what are the origins of : !@#$^*,?/>. and~ ?
You should write about the relationship between 8 and the infinity symbol.
1. When, did the Romans-themselves of the 1st century write in minuscule font–? They wrote in majuscule… "ET"
2. Uncial (rounded uppercase "ƐƬ ƸƮ") came along in the 3rd, century…
3. And none of your examples, and, none of the available fonts on a major word-processing-app, show anything nearly, like, the origin of the "&"-form (so it doesn't show: but must be told) that it was like an uncial-E-crossed… like the way we write 'Rx' as R-crossed (Latin for R[eceive] or R[emedy])…
4. And, I prefer the E-vertical-slash which itself is probably based on the abbreviation for ET, E-apostrophe, (apostrophe indicates letters skipped)… like the C-slash ₵¢₡ for C[ents], and the S-slash $ for dollars (but that's another story, probably for promoting the S[ilver-dollar])…
5. And– we finally note, that, the Wingding-& happens to be particularly popular these days (beginning Friday) especially in gold… GO $!
This is very interesting! Never heard before!
Oh…. that's why we say "Y and Z"… or "Y & Z"
I would like to know the Origen of the @ symbol. In English we refer to it as "at" but in Spanish it is known as arroba. What is the correct English term for this simbol?
WHOAman……no idea
Do V, W, X and Y have a derivative relationship?
Hi! It Hatsune Miku! Ampersand is very unusual and very ironic. But good to know. ^_^
I take it there are a lot of youngsters who replied to this. A 50s kid would know this unless the wool blanket of the 70s was pulled over their eyes prematurely. Schools don't take the time to teach kids to write cursively as they did when I was a lad. Penmanship was something teachers were pretty strict about in elementary school as it was one of the tools that got you through the rest of your education. There were no computers or word processors and not every family had a typewriter lying about. Homework was handwritten no matter the subject and your grades could suffer if illegible. Multipaged essays were a true test of one's ability to write. The ampersand was something I learned about early in life and used in my essays. Some teachers were impressed that I knew to use such.
I would like to see a random sampling of handwritten essays from students in today's high schools/colleges.
Why do they teach children X, Y, Z, AND now I know my A, B,C,'s next time won't you sing with me?
Aww!! This is cool… Like me..
wow. that's so cool!
to me i think tht waz retarded and alysha wat ever ur name is you and jon are retarded u to should go out ill call the retard couple ur wedding present a leather helmet and a drule cup lol.
oh and tim you left this post on my birthday! cool! 8)
and on and on and on……
C'ya Guys! I'm AWESOME! 8) 8D
lolz i use that word everday except i dont say ampersand i do & rofl i didnt even know what it was called! hahahahhaha 8)
Unknown on April 7, 2012 at 8:08 am
Anyone know what "Emancipation" means?
@ unknown: emancipation is the act of freeing something or someone, emancipating them. It comes from the Latin noun emancipationem.
For example, the Emancipation Declaration signed by President Abraham Lincoln stated that the US civil war was the war to free or "emancipate" the African-American slaves.
Amadudin on June 1, 2012 at 10:56 am
alway wanted to know whats is the name for this sign. >>> #
@Amadudin: # I believe this is called an octothorpe
whooo thats so cool its so cool its really was really different backthan cool
So ampersand was once in the alphabet? Oooh im going to sing the alphabet diff from everyone else now.
hi this is so kwl lol <3 sxxxx!!! ! !!! ! ! etrodtkdzgjdzr
So, does this hold up in court?? I'm being sued by a company with "and" in its name, but court papers have "&" in name??????????? Anyone???
I believe it could still be there which is clearly evident in the singing of the ABC's…
W, X, Y & Z. I vote we count it!
LAST! no little person can sneak up behind me again!
I genuinely enjoyed reading about this 'and per se and' now I can boast about my knowledge and how so totally clever I am! ;P
neat!!! ty dictionary.com!! lol
I never knew that! but… how come?
… where'd my "ly" go in Seriously? You might have had the same issue… LOL!
Very interesting….Well done. Just one catch… the mouse rollover for the pix, the word ampersand needs edited… ; ) No worries. If you are hiring an editor, let me know! Serious, well done.
Best regards,
Hello, awesome website. All of the topics you posted on were very interesting. I tried to add in your RSS feed to my news reader and it a couple of.
I wud luv 2 knw……….frm wer……..'@' ………….'#'……………….. '=' n other symbols originated……..!!!!!!!!!!!!!
……………..odrwise d info bout……'&'…………ws f@b….. ….. :-O
gnna share it wid ma frndzz…… lol!!!!!!!
thnxx dictionary.com ………….
wooooaaa………..its..rely coooool 2 knw such @m@zing facts…….
per se…….lol!!!!
Finding that out was so freakin AMAZIIIING!!!
wow …. just unbelievable
where does & go in the abc song?
Well you learn something new every day! Another factoid for my next quiz night!!!
I love it, "and per se and". Learning is so wonderful.
"Very cool – thanks. I had an international technology instructor ask me once about the symbol "@". We refer to it as the "at" symbol, but he would ask his students if they knew of another name for it. One of his northern European students referred to it as a "schnabel A", with the "schnabel" being the word for what an elephant has on its face – its trunck. Wonder if there is another name for the "@" symbol."
In Czech we call it "zavináč". It means rollmop
Why not trying to say this to everyone:
Alpha Kenny Body
or even better:
You're Sofa King Gay
omg sooooooooo coool that is pretty knifty
Another interesting question, would be the purpose behind symbols such as {} and [] and what makes them different from (). I am also interested in the history of | and now the letter I, but the little line which shares a key with the \.
I would like to know about the ~ sign. I use it all the time when I'm happy, but to be honest, I'm not quitre certain of its purpose. Either that, or I would like to know what ` is for, and what seperates it from its akin cousin '.
i want a taco
i cannot have one right now
Yet again, agree with John but this is cool also!Never noe abt this!
Where does dictionary.com get all of this information? After reading this, I tried to find out more online (like why it was taken off), and I couldn't find anything!
Shouldn't that be: Which character was removed from the alphabet…?
alway wanted to know whats is the name for this sign. >>> #
i could have sworn "&" was the shorter way of writing "and " i geuss we learn something new everyday.
cool & exiting. Cause knowledge is power!
wierd! WEIRD! tnk goodess it was removed from the alphabeth! i wonder how i would have bit my mouth to pronouce that when i was a child
good grief!!!!!!
May I say some thing? I read all of these comments,some are quite rude and about the 'and per se and' that I get but where would this letter be? 1st or last?
Ya and the symble @ is on the number 2, and & is on number 7.
That's AWESOME!!! I wonder where it would be in the alphabet!!??
johnson & johnson…………..isnt that some sort of law firm?
Wow man! That's awesome!
I completely agree with Zed. Can't believe everybody is just lapping this up without a thought. The etymology is interesting but calling the ampersand a letter is lazy and wrong.
Zed on May 14, 2012 at 9:35 pm
Lets remind ourselves of what an alphabet is: definition3. any such system for representing the sounds of a language. (Dictionary.com).
Ampersand , &, is not representing a sound, but is a short hand version of "Latin word et which means "and" they linked the e and t." then it does not belong to an alphabet.
Didn't know that…so that's TOTALLY AAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wow……… amazing
I knew this
wow …..! its really an interesting thing to know..
thanks for a new information
wooooww it's great to know such simple things that not everybody knows.
This would've messed us up if Sesame Street tried to en-corporate this into their songs over the years! Very cool though!
There's a symbol that combines the question mark and the exclamation point. It's called the interrobang.
I can't believe it!!
Do you guys at dictionary.com know why some old documents (I believe the Declaration of Independence was one) has some "S"s replaces by an "F"?
Thanks for knolwdge
That is sooooooo bizzare! strange, too! l;
I am sooooooooooooooooo surprised!
Lets remind ourselves of what an alphabet is: definition3. any such system for representing the sounds of a language. (Dictionary.com).
Ampersand , &, is not representing a sound, but is a short hand version of "Latin word et which means "and" they linked the e and t." then it does not belong to an alphabet.
im dave
Thats nuts going to tell my parents right now
There are many things that may possibly have an effect on the speed perhaps the right way unhurried the head of hair increased.
Here, I point out an obvious strategy to offer some
assistance increase your tresses dense, more durable and as a result much more healthy producing use of herbal measures.
So cool! I LOVE words. I want to be a wordsmith when I grow up.
taylee spelled abreviation wrong but i still agree
me bored! very bored
anything else like this
that is soooooooooooooooooooooooooo coooooooool!!!!!!!!!!!
im bored
OMG! That is so crazy!!!!!!!!!
P.S. U forgot DERF!
Love you lily!xoxo
Didn't see Jon's post- but I love this stuff too- very interesting .
God bless~~
Kelly is right!
Very interesting. I learned something knew everyday!
what about a symbol for 'the' ? i made one. here's a link to my site: https://sites.google.com/site/finalstandhomepage/home/feace-stuff
Wow!! That's so cool, I never knew that there once was a 27th letter in the alphabet! And not only was there a 27th letter but it was one that I had known my whole life!!
wow! i never knew this
&c can stand in for etc. because etc. is short for the latin et cetera which means and others/other things. Et is just latin for and, so the ampersand can be used in its stead. It can't replace random e-t combinations.
a,b,c,d,e,fg,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y,z,&,LOL.SO COOL.
that is soooooooo cool i go with Jon & Emily. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&.soooooooooooo coooooooooool.
did not know! (: thanks !
and here i was living knowing there has always been only 26 existing letters in the alphabet!
Awesome Information….Millions of People are still unaware of it….Nice and informative sharing of knowledge!
wow….. its really amazing
yall are i been knew that and in only 14 but thats in my name
that is an interesting fact i never knew that
As an aside, I'm curious to know what would be the numerological value of &. Since it's said to be originated from a combination of e and t, would it be appropriate to add the values of e and t. Chiero says e = 5 and t = 4, so should & = 9?
Very interesting article! Absolutely fascinating. As for another topic, I wouldn't mind hearing more about the interrobang.
Quite intersting!
It gained popular use as graphic element during the 1920s and 30s, thanks to the signwriters of that period. It also should never be used in place of the word "and" in normal text. See: http://www.signtech-rta.com/rr/?p=15
This is so interesting..
I'm learning something new everyday! ^^
we still say it when we sing our abc's abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy and z now i know my abc's next time won't you sing with me
That's so cool, my geeky loins are quivering.
I would like to learn about a German letter that looks like "ß".
It stands for double s.
pretty beastly
the way i say the abc is: abcdefg(pause)hijklmnop(pause)qrstuv(pause)wxyANDz… so if & was re implemented it should be: wxy&z…
wait what does ! and # and % and ^ and * and () and ~";:,./?-_\|{}[] come from??? I guess we will never know… D:
wow REALLY interesting! but i bet no one except those who wanna write a comment will actually see this comment
this is something to know !!!
LOOOL HAHA I ACTUALLY guess that, no lies!! im so pro
I never knew that! That is so cool!
wow that is amazing! didn't know that! I wish that was still a part of the alphabet today that would be so COOL I wonder what were the the other 'symbols' of the alphabet were I reckon they would be aesome to learn about too!!
that is awsome i use that symbol or another words "per se" lol
I fell asleep halfway through.
jon is not a super nerd
that is sooo cool i use that symbol all of the time!!!!&&&&&&&&&:)
Jon is a super nerd. 27 letters thats different
wow i dont have a face book but this is the next best thing to it ik im a weirdo <3
wow long but cool =) =)
et, also comes from french… it also means and. Funny how languages all kind of link together in history.
Whoooaaa! Never knew that.
that was worth FINDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! awesome! !
that is sooooo not amazing LOL!!!!!
what is a gba
what is a Wii?
woww.. i never knew that.. it would have been confusing indeed, W, X, Y, Z and &…
cool & wow!hee hee.
wow! never knew that & used to be part of the alphabet.
that cool
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY&Z…… HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAhahahahahahah lol my name is ashley im trey songz daughter watch look me up on google.com
ashleydabest1999 and youll c videos of me on youtube pretty kool huh.. because usually famous ppl dnt post things up on the internet but i want too… but anyways im tremaine neversons daughter my name is ashley neverson..:}
Very rude, Bob!
it means shut up!!!!!! NERD
Anyone know what "Emancipation" means?
Alredwashere, just please, get a life. No one cares what you think about it? All the rest of us think it's really cool. So, if it was so "ridiculous and stupid" why did you even bother to finish it? So, please just press that little "x" in the corner. Oh, wait your brain is too small to complete such a task, I'm sorry. Now, BYE.
so cool i never thought & was a twenty seventh letter of the alphabet that is really cool although how long ago did they delete that from the alphabet but the strange thing is why did they delete & i mean people use it all the time then just one day just forget it and drop it fron the A-B-C's
"W" is a vowel in the word "Window".
(otherwise it would be pronounced "Win-dah". Come to think of it, in New Hampshire or Boston…)
I never knew this. Know I know why I felt like something was missing in the alphabet!
I never knew this. Know I know why I sometimes felt like something was missing in the alphabet.
I am going to tell all my friends and family about the ampersand i am happy that i know this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&So long folks luv yall
I am going to tell all my friends and family about the ampersand i am happy that i know this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& So long folks luv yall
isn't the ae in encyclopædia and the oe in fœtor French
What is gonna make me belive that! Oh yea, by the way my uncle is Kobe Bryant.
who knew tht writing on here would actually be so popular hmmmm thts kinda lame….. :/
haha ya & was in the alphabet? that would be weird…
whe my teacher told me to say the alphabet when i was at the end i said "also the secret word aaaaaaaand!"
[...] Link Ampersand Was Removed from the Alphabet [...]
should spam my friends wit this XDD
but nowadays we say
funny fact….especiallty the name hahahahaha… would love more of such
nice fact to know I dont know about it.
That is very interesting.
the "&" sign looks like someone scooting there butt across the ground. lmfao hahaha (;
Why is the "&" regarded as a symbol nowadays
so u pronounce it like and?
[...] language. Unfortunately, that's a lie, what actually gave me the idea for this topic was this article from Dictionary.com. For those of you too lazy to go read it (or those who expect me to do some [...]
weird, but cool
If Your Smart Find The * &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&*
I actually did know that! Funny things I learn from my college textbooks years later. Not too long though, lol I'm so old.
what ????????????????/thats a weird word
cool info
I already new that just not it in the alfabet
Cool thats so interesting to know.
soooooooooooooooooo hows life?????????????????????????????????
This doesn't make any sense. I'm a kid you know!!!
awesome totally didnt know that wow
Wouldn't it be X Y & Z it makes more sense
mmmmm i new that LET ME GUESS NOT
WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW so cool
Why is it that strange? Who posted this up?
He accidentally misspelled a designer's name, not a word from the dictionary. Calm down.
I did not know that :"&" was a letter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
wow.i didn't know.that is some good yet shocking evidence.thanks whoever posted this.
Fun fact: Both Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian have 29 letters in their alphabet and not 26; the three last letters are Æ, Ø, and Å (Å, Ä, Ö in Swedish).
The sound for Æ is pretty much the same sound you'll find in the name AL (æ:l), the Ø sounds kind of like the first sound in the word URGE (ø:rdgj), and Å is kind of like the first sound of the word ALL with an NY accent:) (å:ll). However, the sounds do variate within the three scandinavian languages, different accents, and different placements in words.
27 alphebet well that is funny sooooooooooooooooooooooooo funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@ Jon on September 2, 2011 at 2:09 pm
I agree they should do that letter. It would be cool to learn why they do that with "ae"
I wonder why we don't have that in the alphabet anymore.
ok maybe 3 times..
sorry i put it twice.. hey know whos the blonde no effense to the blondes it is just a fake joke (:
thats cool but i already knew that.. soo yea! i guess im just to smart!
thats cool but i already knew about this! (: i guess im just to smart!
That's great. As a student of translation, I have learnt another thing today. Thank you, the team.
BTW, Matt, i bet you don't even understand WTH this whole article was talking about. Your attempt at pretending to think its lame when you have no idea what this is about is LAME.
You suck, we are not nerds. we are just somehow smarter than your little brain can handle.
Wow, never knew ampersand was so complicated. Cool.
i nvr knew tht!
That is soo interesting i never knew that there was 27 letters that is amazing
WHAT? THAT IS VERY SURPRISING! It should still be a letter though.
hi every one , can i chatting with you???????????
the word "and" + the abreaveation for and "&" both = and.
actually thats a abreaveation for the word "and" im 8 and i know that
Ah whaaaaaaaat? This just blows my mind… it just blows it. I'm used to saying " A B C" (well you know what I mean) but "X Y Z AND PER SE AND" just blows my mind. That's it… you can go now … bye.
its ridiculus
f it
hi and i think that is weird
I love Emily's comment; it is exactly how my 3 year daughter Rebekah says it!
"Huh. So "ampersand" is slurred "and per se and"? How long do you think it will be until "LMNOP" becomes one character, "Ellamenopee?" I remember when I first learned the alphabet and I was SO sure that it was only one letter. LOL"
Emily Grae on September 3, 2011 at 2:30 am
so cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! &&&&&&&&&&&&& Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lol, wow, so interesting!! :UUU I'll have to share this with my family XDD
that's very interesting. i never knew that. i just thought it was a symbol on a computer
????????? interesting lol
Wow who new?
Haha, That's a neat fact. Hm, I wonder if we could vote it back into the alphabet?
That is interesting and bob is right we do say and in the alphabet so we still use it but I never knew that it was considered an actual letter. WOW!
wow this is so interesting now my friends will be even more jealous of me because there was a 27th letter sorry friends that i'm always learning new things (not)
When we sing the alphabet we still say "&" :
a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y, AND, z, Now I know my abc's etc…
Thatz sooooooooo kool! I wonder how that came to be … *Thinks* …I'm stumped … Oh well! Thatz STILL kool!
Wow! Scandalous!
We need an alphabet review team. Otherwise I am not very convinced that the symbol '&' is a letter!
wow! interesting!
i hate this site ;p
Well I guess I just learned somthing new today!!
I am defently telling my friends this but they would probably wouldnt believe me… typical lol
I just needed to do my homework on this website.Because I am only 9 years old.When I saw this info it was really interesting to learn a new word time to time.
This is interesting am loving it…
but when would you use it in a sentence back the and what does it mean now if it was in a sentence??? (&)???
azome! i never knew that!
They should still have that so i wont be writing "And" all the time or type it i could just write that symbol or "Letter".
wow!!! thts so weird yet cool but isnt tht "and" today!!! hmmm
interesting i guess
Ummm… Ok??? Thats kinda funny
hehe wow…. cool D
i just come here for all of these things. and… wow.
/\/\ | |_ |< /\/\ /-\ |\|
a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y,z and &
now i know the proper alphabet
yay me =)
# <— this is actually called an "octothorpe". Just thought that everyone might like to know.
you cant be serious
So, it goes like this-
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, and &. Awesome.
wow thats cool! bob that is so mean why would you call jon a nerd he has feelings to dont make fun of people you are so rude you would not like omeone to say that to you
That is so freaking cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
huh. who knew? not me! :/
u would think that they would write something at least a tad bit more interesting than the 27th letter. its a cool fun fact and all but something more "explosive" would be nice right?;}
WOWWWWW! that is sooooooooo cool! and per se and andandandandandandandandandandandandndandandandandanad
What does this have to do with the word 'Mrs.' ? The links really need fixed… Interesting article anyways…
Seriously! Come to the dark side…we have COOKIES!!!!:)
That is really cool.
now i know my ABC's next time won't you sing with me.
hey daisy and mae….u make sense! and all those people saying it's Dolce & Gabbana….it is spelled correctly. oh wait.. maybe then it wasnt. never mind bout that. i don feel like erasing this so imma gonna leeve it her.
wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 thats really nice to know so know i can go to my language arts teacher and say you dont know all the letters of the alpabet and shell be like what and ill say yea the symbol & used to be in the alphabet and shell go all crazy and be like what know there cant be something i didnt knowand scream nooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i cant be wrong then have a mental breakdown,fart then her head will blow up into little bloody pieces and her daughter(that is her moms homeroom.!)will walk up to her look around to see if anyone is looking and the will eat her moms bloody pieces of skull!!!!!
i agree with mae
Thats Awesome!
"… x, y ,and z"
it's still sort of there
wow u guys are such nerds….. who cares about etymology … jon are cute
I soooooooo agree with Jon.
cool lol
Wow. Nice to know! Happy Valentines <3 xoxoxoxx
Who knew i sure didn't I can make my friends look real dumb with this
@ is at
Yowzers. I am a hot man, and don't get me wrong, but I am actually really smart and know my vocal. When I heard this I when so crazy I almost stuck my head in the oven. don't scare me like that dictionary.com! you need to put out the information in a slow and steady process instead of just putting it out there. I have never been more scared in my life. thanks a lot dictionary.com, Jeez
whoa! i did not know that, that is cool. lol
Wow! This is absolutely crazy and weird! LOL!!
Ever heard about the interrobang?!
lolololololololol I use it like every day!
i like it
Do tell the history of all punctuation marks!! It'd be really interesting!
i.e. !, @, #, $, etc.
We say the & all the time in the alphabet.
sing the alphabet song & you do say it. -_- X D
I did not know that
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z &
Now i really know my ABC's next time wont u sing with me (and sing it the right way)
Can you help with ow d mths got their names?
lilly you said cool i new knew that i guess you really belong in a special class then lol
thats sooo cool. nice to kno that.
ooo wow you people didnt know that you all was surpose to learn that in history but am just say if you all didnt know that then you all belong in a special class for slow people
cool!!!!!!!!!! never new that!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I asked my gran about this letter all she could say was "apple sand, what is that". I knew what I meant but did not know that this was once part of the alphabet. That is almost as confusing as the supposed 3 Rs.
"@" is called "arroba" in spanish
[...] more: http://hotword.dictionary.com/ampersand/ GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); [...]
[...] via [...]
So, this does sound believable, but can you give us your references for this etymology? I hate to take new and interesting facts as truth without knowing the source. It because of this that we have fake etymologies or "popular" etymologies for so many words and phrases!
[...] Snapple cap was discovered while digging through dictionary.com Rate this: Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. This entry [...]
that didnt make any sense to me
why are some punctuation marks divided?
?, ;, :, !,
Also, what is the history of "%"?
wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what an interesting tale
What about the @ symbol and the exclamation point (!)? I understand their meaning, but pray tell, from whence didst they originate?
it is not AMPERESAND. AMPERE'S AND is what is from Andre Ampere bec. he was using it in some of his works, that's just the pop connotation in math/physics.
it is AMPERSAND, that is the name, that it got from "and per se and"
@KYLE — hey, funny thoug.. u made my day! haha
Holy macadamia nuts, I didn't know that.
This is awesome. This is how I'm going to say the alphabet when possible.
A couple months ago I took my 14-year old nephew out for his first-ever round of golf. On the 6th hole he found a ball and I asked what brand it was. He looked at it and as he handed it to me with an outstretched arm, said, "Titend" in a very questioning tone. I responded by saying that there is no ball or brand called "Titend". I looked at the ball myself to see the most popular name on a golf ball today, "Titleist".
When I asked, "Where did you get Titend", he replied, "I was just guessing . They don't teach cursive in school anymore."
I found myself STUNNED and deeply saddened for my recent 8th grade graduate nephew – - though no fault of his own.
Grammer Girl you gave languagecommand a lesson, she might start being a little more humble from now on, and you reinforced my knowledge of the use of may and might. Killed two birds with one stone
@ SalManz
After defending Dictionary.com for their research, I feel badly for putting down your unnamed etymology book. I feel strongly though, that they were merely reporting the usages which people claimed, but could not prove, as valid.
Firstly, book or no book, the horse goes firmly in front of the cart. The word/symbol, ampersand, existed long before the birth of Ampere.
Secondly, Ampere was a Frenchman who had no "and", he had an "et" in the French language which he used.
Thirdly, other than two references here, I can find no historical citation for either his heavy use of the symbol or any of his contemporaries using the term.
This appears to be a case of people trying to make sense of an esoteric item which they didn't really understand. The new British term "chav" is not an acronym meaning Council Housed And Violent. It's merely a term used by Romanian immigrants, meaning "young man." The brassiere was not invented by a German guy named Otto Titslinger. I wait to be corrected by German-speaking scholars, but my research indicates that the name Titslinger does not and can not exist in German. Even if it did, by German rules of language, it would be spelled Titzlinger, it would be pronounced Titz-linger, and it would not have the Beevis and Butthead connotation so often applied.
Sorry Juliet. All I can say is, pay attention in class next time.
where is the ampersands place in the alphabet?
I agree with Dee! Where did the ampersand fit in with the rest of the alphabet?
Please do! Ampersand is so cool! But I keep forgetting the name…
I love learning sinple things like this!
If ampersand had been a character in the alphabet, what sound did it denote? What words was it ever part of?
Rick, I think the letter W looking like two Vs instead of Us is at least partly due to computing – I'd imagine it looks smoother that way as a text character. However, in old writing long before computing or even typewriting there are no doubt similar, "pointy" Ws, though that could be a matter of calligraphy.
This is my first time seeing the community at dictionary.com and I'm genuinely shocked at the writing ability of the those commenting. Surely a literary website would be the best example of it on the internet?
wowwwwwwww i didn't know that!!!!!!!!!!
I love the ampersand, I think I'll change my name to &. I can pronounce my name as "Ampy". My last name can be a reverse ampersand. It will look sort of like a scribed S.
Wow! This is an eye-opener. Thanks, dictionary.com for these extras
cOoOooOLLL!!.. learning's real fun.. *^_^*
thats kinda cool
@ Jennifer, September 2nd:
I don't know about the American Dollar, but the former Portuguese currency (before the Euro) was the Escudo and it's symbol was the S crossed by two vertical bars. That symbol is called a "cifrão".
Hey languagecommand – you used the wrong word in the following sentence: "Well, maybe you should have listened better in History class because if it wasn't for him you may not have been able to get a job here." The correct word is "might" not may: "you might not have been able to get a job." It seems as if the number of people who understand the difference between, and correct use of, "may" and "might" is dwindling fast. "May" is correct when the occasion or circumstance is in the future, i.e., "I may stay home tonight" or "If that happens, you may not be able to go." But the past conditional ("If that had happened,…") requires the use of "might" (you might not have gone).
What a great article! Wow!
the word is awesome
many thanks for increasing knowledge.
awesome article, never new that.
I am only writing this to add to this page. It is filled to the brim with comments
@ lpuis paiz
Spanish clave = French and English clef = musical "key"
The symbol for a "treble clef" looks very much like the ampersand, only backwards, mirror-image, and standing straight up, not leaned over. They are not the same thing.
Good question! I think it's from a typo
@ Rick
There was an article here a couple of months ago, about the decline and possible death of cursive handwriting in the techno-youth, because of texting, IMing etc. If you go back to handwriting, as it REALLY was for millenia, you'll find that it looks like a double U. The shape of the letter changed to make it easier for engravers and printing-letter moulders. Look at pictures of old Roman inscriptions. Names like Claudius became Clavdivs. The spelling and pronunciation of the entire French language migrated because French engravers couldn't carve out the double-curved S, and substituted the accented E.
@Jennifer Encyclopaedia is the more correct way of writing 'encyclopedia', still in use in Britain. The entire word is Greek and the paed- comes from παιδ- in παιδεία and it means 'education'. En- indicates 'in' and cyclo- indicates 'circle'; i.e. well-rounded. So it means well-rounded education.
Now, as regards the ae placed together as one letter, this is the way it was spelled in Latin, taken directly from Greek and also used in Old English.
SO COOL! I keep forgetting what that frigging name is. AMPERSAND!!!!!
Please explain: Why is the letter "W" called "double-u" and not "double-v" as it REALLY appears to be?
knowin stuff is so awesome
The change from two lines through the S to one in the $ reflects the reduction in values of the dollar.
TIlde or tilda… well, it had to be called something. Besides, it looks like it's waltzing a bit. )
so you gave that working girl what she deserved, well done! languagecommand you're so brave
Again the Romans! we owe them much more than we are willing to admit
you can also see the origin in the font: Monotype Corsiva
I woulve never none…..kool!!!
woah! nice one!
for the very long time i've known the symbol and how it's called, the origin of its name and the fact that it is once a part of the alphabet is a very interesting revelation to me.
geez… anyway, learn something new everyday…
interesting! i love it!!!
Jennifer, interesting about the $ sign. I have always used just the one line, who knew I was doing it right!!
I didn't know that! It was so interesting! I'm going to share it with everyone!
WOW! THAT IS AWESOME ! so unexpected! great to know!!!!
OMG that was very interesting! I never knew and now I feel my life is complete!
So is that why when I was in kindergarten learning the alphabet we'd alway argue about if it was X,Y, and, Z or if it was X,Y,Z?? (I'm 12 BTW, thats why I can remember this…Haha)
that is so awsome i literly use it every day HAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i agree with CHANDA, why can't we just put the & sign back in the alphabet?
Thats incredible!
wow i found this while doing some homework
i already knew this
what i wanna know is what my spelling words are for this week cause i didnt get them all down
anyone in Mr. Christen Hamm's 6th grade ADV. LA?
Very interesting. I honestly had no knowledge of this. I agree with the whole combined letters confusion as well. What's up with that?
Thats so cool!!!! i would love to learn about more weird things.no offense.
listen, i like he simple way that Dictionary.com presents their info… it's a lot easyer to understand then the crap you shoot out of your mouth! and another thing, stop calling Jon a nerd. i think he was absolutly correct!
I agree with Jon and Alysha. The combined letters confuse me senseless.
Oh, how I love to learn, and today I learned something very interesting. Thanks for today's lesson!
ABCD sheep?
LMNO sheep~
MR rocks!
I real agree on this passage I'm a 89 year old man so I know all about this
what about the elongated s that you sometimes see in old texts? when and why did that get used?
I never knew that there was so many things behind just one letter…. crazy isn't it?
I love it! Is it strange that i spend more time on dictionary.com than I do on Facebook?
ampersand….. sound coolio…. does any one know the origin of using (sic) or . . . . in wiritng a report???
~ is called a tilda.
woah! @MpEr$@nD!
@mPeR & $@nD!!
Ha, @Carlitos, you stole that from Big Bird!!!
someone ask for another name for @ the one i know is that is also call arrova which is part of the measurement of pesantes or weight so @ means 25 pounds so one hundred pounds equals 4@.
Could you perhaps discover and explain the origin of the pilcrow sign? (¶)
It might also be nice to explain diaereses as well; as in Zoë, or naïve.
Can you guys stop posting these i cant do my homework with the distractions
I agree with Laura (September 5th, 2011 at 2:33 pm. It's kinda funny how I always end up singing it, even if I go super fast!
That is crazy…can't we just add it back into the alphabet? I think that would be kind of cool to have it back in there…but that's just me.
No comment
the cent symbol
nvr knew that until now ! great info!!!
Shut up Bob that was great news, thanks dictionary.com
and per se and, ampersand
wow english speakers are so creative. In my language (spanish), & is called et.
YAY! emote with the ampersand letter!
Wow. cool!
lol my dads romanian and says it like this (pronouncing) ah b ck d e f…ect. he sais it so faast! lol
Wow, dictionary.com spelled Gabbana wrong. Amazing what you can find when you focus on simple things like Gabbana which people don't usually value, but it's a proper noun so obviously this shows that many people are just too ignorant and stubborn to notice such things like grammatical errors…
i think itz kewl dat that uze 2 b a ltr u no wat they say u lern somthin new evryday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! now im gona tell my mom bout diz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is good stuff; I enjoy reading the history of the &!!!
WHOA COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!! Didnt know that….
i knew that
Same here
Balderdash !?
A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z, and per si &!!!!
Now i know per si and (&) next time why don't you sing with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That was some cool info!!!!!!!!
Et ceteri in latin means 'and the others' not 'and so on'
Get your facts straight.
This is interesting… I had read in an etymology book that it was a combination of the word "and" and André-Marie Ampère's last name (French physicist and mathematician who discovered electromagnetism and the SI unit of measurement of electric current, the ampere).
My understanding is that he used the letter so much, it became "Ampere's and" and as you spoke, it changed to "ampersand."
Both, very valid stories that you can use to enlighten your friends or simple spark up a conversation
Who Da Thunk It ???
Nobeliever: This is not a theory that can be proven false by any means. It was clearly found on ancient transcriptions, look at the Adobe REFERENCE.
I think that this is a pretty cool article. I honestly didn't know that & was part of the alphabet ever. Cool to learn new things!
when i was in school i learned with the name of clave mussical and it is at the begining of the pentagram.which is the clave mussical composed by the clave mussical five lines and four spaces.
thank you.
So who tagged the image 'Amerpsand'?
man you all are way behind the times… I was telling my daughter a password to an email account the other day and told her it is yadda yadda yadda…ampersand…yadda yadda yadda. I can't believe some of you say "I've never heard this word before." or "oh, I didn't know it was called that." Certainly, I didn't know why it was called ampersand but I did know that & was known as ampersand. I swear the level of instruction in the schools nowadays is sooooo substandard. Yikes, what is this country (world) coming to? I live in Utah and the other day, I was at KFC and the girl that took my order asked me, "Can I get a name for your order?" She didn't say, "Can I get YOUR name." she said "a name." So I said, "Uh, yeah, Caesar Chavez." (I'm female) She looked at me kinda strange. So I asked her, "Do you know who that is?" and she said, "No." So, I said, "Well, maybe you should have listened better in History class because if it wasn't for him you may not have been able to get a job here. Maybe tonight when you're online you should google him." (She is of hispanic origin) She was mighty perplexed I tell you. I wasn't picking on her and I am not racist. I just think that children these days do not put a very high value on their education (or heritage for that matter). SAD SAD SAD
Interesting information, but as said previously it should be backed up with some references.
etc stands for et cetera, which is latin for something like, "and other". So &c makes sense.
& tu Brute? I just had to type that
So now kids say "…W,X, Y, and Z" without even realizing it!! Success!
I agree with Lawman.
Use "and" as a letter in a word?
Ha, I feel so smart! A while ago, when a saw the ampersand on a sign, I noticed it looked exactly like "Et" (it had to do with the specific font as well). Having learned Latin, I understood the connection. But I never knew how the word came about! Thanks for sharing your wisdom, it's very interesting!
Why dont they use it now cause it is a cOOl word
One really needs to provide references, especially for something as blatantly … umm… creative as this misconception! To pass off as fact something so easily proven false… well, my opinion of dictionary.com just dropped several notches. I'm left with only Mark Twain's wisdom as comfort: "A good storyteller is one who has a good memory… and hopes other people haven't."
haha come on!! everybody should of known this… seriously!
I like to say the alphabet like this, pronounced as a single word:
I can never recite the alphabet without singing it.
Whoa… who would've known!
info on the pound sign, aka as the hashtag nowadays for twitter-folk please
The history of the word "ak" is quite interesting,and in particular how the ampersand symbol/word was arrived at.Thanks for sharing:~)
really enlightening
Wow! That's actually very interesting! Now I can trick my friends into thinking I'm pretty clever ;D
i read a book and it had a school newspaper called "the ampersand" thats so weird
p.s the book was called "geek high"
Who knows the one sentence that has every single letter of the alphabet in it(at least once)??????? I DO !!! scroll down to see
"THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG". (35 letters)
"" PACK MY BOX WITH FIVE DOZEN LIQUOR JUGS" is another sentence (32 letters)
So many mysteries to our language….
4th of all, i dont get it
1st of all, "Nev" is not my real name. 2nd of all, i am only in 5th grade, so i dont want to read it. 3rd of all……………………. wow! thats interesting!
& could u please throw some lights on – '@' & '?' & well…thats it!!
I bet it like 9 letters removed from the alpahbet
I've asked many people to sing the alphabet and no one has ever sung it quite like me. I have no idea as to where I learned to sing it so unique other than to say that I learned it at Juliet Morris Elementary School in Cypress, California. Everyone sings it like this:
A B C D E F G…H I J K L M N O P…Q R S T U V…W X Y and Z. Now I know my ABC's…won't you come and play with me?
I sing mine the same for a bit and then it goes off much differently:
A B C D E F G…H I J K L M N…O P Q…R S T…U V W X Y Z. Now I never will forget…how to say my alphabet!
If you'd care to comment, please write to: firstname.lastname@example.com
Dictionary on line is a standard dictionary. While writing remarks I suppose words like LOL, HEYYYYYY, SOOOOOO do not appear to be compatible with the high standard of the Dictionary on line. Looks very cheap.
Chika, ~ is also used in Portuguese to give the vowels a (ã) and o (õ) a nasal sound in words like avião (airplane), mãe (mother), and opiniões (opinions).
& don't forget ….. @ ie 3 apples @ 15c each…..
The umlaut is the evolution of the diæresis (you see what I did there…), which has been in use for thousands of years in the languages that we now collectively call Greek.The notion of ancient Greek as a unified singular language is somewhat misleading as spellings, pronunciations and grammatical constructs could vary considerably from city-state to city-state. Our entire modern concept of "ancient Greece" is built on a foundation of sand, as the peoples of that region at such a time did not self-identify as Greeks or Hellenes, but rather as Ionians, Spartans, Athenians etc… The diæresis indicates the absence of a dipthong.
@ evan – et cetera is latin for and so on
@eyeofdali no one knows, only the people that made it up knows why…
@Mike @ means "at" for example, example555@(at)hotmail.com make sense?
@Evan Oh… Thanks for that!
The ampersand was never part of the alphabet, regardless of what this article says. It is an abbreviation, not a letter.
I thought that the kids included it in the alphabet before the letter "z"
That way they would sing, "w, x, y, &, z".
I always thought it was called And-for-stand 'till my nephew informed me otherwise
my dog will be named ampersand.
I love knowing about the etymology of words. ´Ampersand´ was unknown to me. It is called ´et´ in Spanish.
Have you already dealt with ´lemniscata´?
I learned it as "anpersand" since it matches up with the "and" in and per se and. Was it always "ampersand" or did it change?
I love learning little tid-bits of info like this!! Word origins, arcane words &c.
Oops … misspelling: not gārdagum but gēardagum: days of yore.
The 'dagum' part is 'of days.'
'gēar' is read 'yar,' close to our 'year,' which is what it means.
You've told us of the 'schnabel' A — I find that Schnabel in German means beak, mouth. No reference to elephants.
In Polish they call this thing 'małpa' (that's an L with a slash through it, pronounced like our w), which means monkey. No idea why.
As Me tells us, oe and ae are from Greek and Latin (respectively). Old English used to have a vowel whose name was pronounced like our 'ash.' This was ae (glued together) and was used for the sound in 'had.' It appears in the first word of "Beowulf":
"Hwæt, Wē Gārdena in gārdagum …."
I don't know if the OE version is linked to the Latin at all.
a b c d e f g h i j kl m n o p q r s t u v w&
A-B-C-D-E-F-G, H-I-J-K-L I said
M-N-O-P-Q-R-S, T-U-V-W, for wed
X and Y and finally Z
I'm exhausted, time for bed.
ill heard of it already
Fern – ordering a Rum and per se Coke is ordering a Rum and by itself Coke. That is a shot and a chaser and it is no longer a mixed drink.
Evan: It's called a tilde and it's used in Spanish to enunciate stress on the letter 'n' in most cases. It makes the 'en-YAY' sound when placed over the letter itself.
Hope that helped. (:
[...] I couldn't resist writing about it. Over at the hot word (on Dictionary.com) they ask, "What character was removed from the alphabet but is still used every day?" The answer, of course, is the [...]
They probably had to get rid of the ampersand so the alphabet song rhymes.
Chika, ~ is a tilda.
There are many letters removed from alphabet but still used
For example,
What a confusion!!!
"the word ampersand by more than 1,500 years."?
while English itself hardly has la little more than a thousand?
and a modern English much less?
Here is Old English alphabet
Example of English word "legally":
And per se, so when I write rum&coke actually it should rum and per se coke (kidding).
Check out S.Nob, or snob, it comes from Oxford where classrooms were separated by a golden fence, with nobility ahead of the fence and those who could afford the tuition behind it, when signing in if you were not a member of the nobility, they would write S. for sine and Nob. for nobilitate.
I learned something here so I gave something, so I can feel even.
One Ton Tomato …… Guantanamera
Every day is a school day and this is my piece of learning for today! Thanks!
So that explains the & shape, what about writing it as a 3 reflected across a vertical axis with a vertical line through the middle? Is that the same origin just a variant?
Font = Type Face + Style + Size
Arial is a type face. Italic is a style. 10 is a size. Arial Italic 10 is a font.
We have different words because they have different meanings.
If it was slurred into ampersand, then how come there is no ampersand in the alphabet?
Who in removed such a great and mighty letter?
That was cool and interesting. I wish & was still apart of the alphabet so I could slack off more!
The nerve! The gall! The chutzpah! The overweening ego! No matter how many times I see it, it still just astounds me.
I thought that the purpose of coming to a dictionary site, was to have the dictionary tell us the meanings and histories of words, not for us to tell the dictionary, and others. Lars has many compatriots; these threads are riddled with them. Dictionary.com spent a hundred hours and a couple of thousand dollars to research this item, but Lars knows better. The site says that the term Ms has been in use since the early 1600s, but I didn't hear it till Gloria Steinem or Betty Friedan found it and popularized it in the '60s, so I "know" that they invented it then. My mind(?) is made up. Don't confuse me with the truth.
What about the squiggly?! Or whatever it's called. This thing; ~
And therefore it is twentyseventh star of the ancient astrology
,astronomy and what not for in the ancient hindu religeon there are 27 distinct star of birth prescribed as per birth time & therefore is the last star of the alphabet it is my opinion only.
And: why is @ used for "at"? I always thought it looked like around (a-round).
LMNOP, my dear dear dear dear Watson…. LMNOP!
All those unusual archaic combinations of vowels you find in old and middle English/German oe ae. etc. are what is called "ablaut"
Think of the six vowels as slight variations of one sound or one vowel. The sounds the open mouth makes. Each language has a slight difference in their pronunciation. Before spelling became standardized, they weren't always clear how to indicate the subtle distinctions.
Ablaut is the evolution over time of that one vowel's subtle variations, simplified into six distinctly separate independent sounds/letters A E I O U
Ablaut Is the English evolution of the vowel into 6 separate distinctions to do what the Umlaut still does by way of additional variation in Germanic languages
Ablaut is the evolution of Umlaut they are the same thing more or less
Betcha didn't know that. Huh?
I would have never theorized that.
I've learned something new! Thank you. I'd just like to add, somewhat related, that I think Americans use Zee instead of Zed because Zed doesn't rhyme with Vee. I have no proof; just sayin'.
What a fantastically selected piece of information. I enjoyed the research you chose to include in the article. Your opener made it relevant and catching. Well done. Thoughtful article.
I hate the ampersand. Its just a combination of the 'a' sound the 'n' sound & the 'd' sound.
The oe and ae ligatures come from Greek and latin where they either used them as we see them in the modern English or where they had a letter we do not have. So oe for example sometimes represents Greek omega or big-o. Ae was pronounced igh in Latin (rhymes with high). It appears in words like Caesar. This was originally pronounced kigh-ser, hence the German emperor, the kaiser, in the 1800s. Also why the Russians had a tsar or czar as their king.
As for w being a semivowel, Britons don't find thus strange, since the welsh language uses w as "oo". Hence cwm, a kind of hill, is pronounced koom.
Wikipedia has a good write-up on the dipthongs/ligatures and missing letters from Old English on their page for English Language.
@Lars "Ampere sand" lol you crack me up…
I recently read of someone who called it "and per cent" because "it's like a per cent sign, but it means 'and'…"
[...] Amper Sand Et Cetra after Cetra had her lunch. — Filling and it tastes good too, with ZZZZZZs all in a bunch. — 'In your dreams,' said Cetra. — We wouldn't have it any Other Way. — & come to think of it simplistic like — Wees got nothing much to say. –>>L.T.Rhyme [...]
Actually, "&c." means, "and so forth."
Yaar, why does it just have to change???
THANK YOU so much for this information. I have been a fan of the shape of the ampersand and have loved it's name. So, thank you for sharing this.
I would love to learn more about how the origins of the period, comma, question mark, and exclamation point! Those are four request, but I thought I'd put them out there, anyway.
Thanks, again. Fascinating!
wow u guys are such nerds…who cares about the history of &
That name's really bizarre!
Wowie, wowie, wow!
god! come on, alysha "&" emily, jon IS A NERDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD (like moi)
Chika, as Evan said it's called a tilde – pronounced "till-deh" and it means "approximately." It's typical use is similar to the equal sign "=" although it can be used for other purposes, as well.
An example might be: 1.929327 + 2.10003 ~ 4
omg thats soooooo intresting i didnt know that!! lol
The character & is called amperesand because it was used (and popularized) by the French physicist Andre Ampere (for whom the unit of electrical current is also named).
Also, a tilde is the name of the character above the Spanish "n" that gives an almost "y" sound to the character. I think that if someone calls the ~ a tilde, they're using the term incorrectly. I'm not sure why most people use ~, but it can mean "approximately" in math, especially with two on top of each other like a curvy equal-to sign.
et cetera, like most abbreviations we use (e.g., i.e., etc.) is a Latin phrase. "et," as this article pointed out, means "and," and "cetera" means "the rest." Therefore, et cetera means "and the rest."
Another character/letter that is no longer in the alphabet, in addition to the thorn, is the yogh. The thorn looks like a lower case p with the line extended above the loop, not like a "y" as the linked article on "the extinction…" suggests. Also, "Ye Olde Bookshoppe," and names like that, contrary to what the linked article suggests, is a mistake. When people wrote the thorn incorrectly, it looked like a "y." Thus, it's simply "The Old Bookshop," because the thorn was essentially one character for the sound we now use "th" to represent.
Also, the reason "w" could be said to be a vowel is because, in Middle English, you pronounced every letter, and sometimes "w" was somewhat like a vowel. As for the "wynn" mentioned in the linked article, there were now double-character vowel sounds in Middle English: "oo" for example. You pronounced both "o"s independently, but that eventually slurred into the way we now pronounce "oo"s.
These dictionary.com articles quite oversimplify the progressions associated with how words and characters have changed and sometimes even have glaring mistakes. Always verify these accounts with other sources.
so cool
Is the ae in "encyclopædia (as well as the "œ") a diphthong, which are two vowels combined to form one sound? I am not sure, just me thinking. I should have paid more attention in class!
H Michael
w, x, y, z, and ampersand
wonderful…… to know…. about "and per se and"………..
I am wondering what is the origin of "et al." is
Quite interesting indeed! I enjoyed reading every bit of info on this page.
A lot of English words or symbols have interesting histories.
It was fun reading this. Can't wait for more articles on this site .
Dictionary.com…………………what about @
@Ethan – Some times Y and **W**?? what the heck? I have NEVER heard W as a part time vowel! :O
This was a very fun and interesting article! I love etymology!
Very cool – thanks. I had an international technology instructor ask me once about the symbol "@". We refer to it as the "at" symbol, but he would ask his students if they knew of another name for it. One of his northern European students referred to it as a "schnabel A", with the "schnabel" being the word for what an elephant has on its face – its trunck. Wonder if there is another name for the "@" symbol.
Ethan, the reason you used to say "sometimes Y and W" is because W is what linguists call a semivowel. Try to pronounce a "W" sound very slowly and it kind of sounds like "oooooooo-uh" or something. In Italian, there is no Y or W, so the letter I is sometimes used to make a Y sound (as in "spiacente") and U is sometimes used to make a W sound (as in "scuola").
Very informative and will share with my English class.
I agree with jon im kinda confused `bout the a&e stuck together or the o&e
no 1 really explained it to me but hope u can help me out and hey jon isnt nerd!!
And per se and. That is weird.
that was interesting
Huh. So "ampersand" is slurred "and per se and"? How long do you think it will be until "LMNOP" becomes one character, "Ellamenopee?" I remember when I first learned the alphabet and I was SO sure that it was only one letter. LOL
Words are sexy.
don't know &
wow….cool, i think thats one thing we should know from the past…
& has a great history. There are over thousand alphabets in china, while our 27 th alphabet wins the linguistic race
wow i didnt knew it thanx 2 dictionary .com!!!!!!!!!!!1
Origin of the $ or # or @ or ! or ?
That was really interesting. I've always wondered where & came from but never got around to looking it up! No need now.
That is new to me. What a long history such a word has! Fantastic!!
I agree that is interestint, however I always thought that the "@" was the ampersand. So wthat is "@" called?
wow!that was just awesome i was not even thought that in my most weird dream!
love to visit dic…..com!
Chika, it's called a tilde – but I have no idea why.
Awesome post. &c was the really interesting part, as a stand-in for etc.
Come to think of it, what is 'etcetera' all about? I should look it up…
I agree with Chika. Squiggly? I call it a Wavy… Sometimes a Coof…
I would love to learn about this little guy here: ~
I honestly have no idea what the name for it is or what it's officially supposed to be used for. I always just called it a "squiggly."
That's amazing! I love it!
Wow! I am to tell this to my friends… So that they view me as super smart. Lol!
it's "Dolce & Gabbana" with 2 B's not Gabana. Dictionary.com should do some spell check.
When I was young we used to say the vowels as A, E, I, O, U, &(nice use of today's word huh!) sometimes Y and W. I get the Y but "W"??? If not this then I agree on Joined letters with Jon and Alysha. And how do you know when to use them and how to pronounce them when spelling.
Thats really interesting!! haha and per se and!
Now I know these ABC's, next time won't you sing with me
Well can't we just add "&" back to the alphabet as "XY&Z"?
Thanks for the fun knowledge!
I'm just going to use this word to impress my mom into buying me an ipod (unfortunately my langauge arts grade isn't very high, but its getting better!)
Oh… And…
I definitely agree with Jon's comment (9/2/11 2:09pm) too –
What the !%$! is up with those letters like in the word "encyclopædia"???
Thank You again
When I was a kid, my dad told me that the dollar sign "$" was originally created to symbolize the 'United States' by using/combining the letters "U" and "S".
First, I have to emphasize how sometimes the 'dollar sign' is written/transcribed with 2 lines that are parallel and close to one another going down its center, whereas the above typed keyboard version only has 1.
Anyway, if you write the letter "U" (skinny-like / with its vertical lines fairly close together) and then you write the letter "S" over it – and if you then take into account how over time people may have just stopped including the 'curve' part on the bottom of the letter "U" (which is easily conceivable for a multitude of reasons: unenlightenment to the actual original shape or meaning of the sign/character, simple laziness, ect.) – it seems as though it could be true.
Your blog brought about this memory for me, so I was wondering if you and others thought it was also interesting and maybe I could then get my answer through 'the hot word'…
Thank You
Cool story.
I want to hear about the rise and fall of the '¢' symbol.
Really good to know, fun to learn new things everyday. Good times.
i agree with Jon as well. the origins of these combined letters is interesting.
It is great to learn new things. This was very interesting to me. I wonder if my kids know? Usually when I tell them some bit of info, they look at me and sigh. "I know mom". LOL
Gabbana, not Gabana. Come on, you're the dictionary! I work as a copy editor, and you gotta check your proper nouns!
You fixed it! I'm so proud….
LOL alysha, jons one big nerd
How swell that is!How about you tell us about œ & æ?
I agree with Jon!
Interesting fact to know…! Would love to know more of such interesting facts.
I'm interested in the symbols that are combined letters — rather like the ampersand but still recognizable in themselves: things such as the combined "ae" in "encyclopædia" and the "oe" in "fœtor."
Shouldn't that be "…every day?"?
ampersand? hmm.. weird. :l
Wow…I didn't know that LOL


text: This officially licensed Cinderella Wand with Light and Sound will complement your daughter's Halloween costume perfectly. The item features a glittery silver wand with a blue handle and white ribbon top, as well as a Cinderella cameo on a blue ribbon. The Disney prop lights up and makes sound when activated.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) held its fourth annual Muslim Leadership Dinner last night, where 400 distinguished guests including community leaders, Imams, diplomats, business leaders and politicians gathered to celebrate the contribution of Muslim charities in UK to International development.
In his welcome speech, Farooq Murad, Secretary General of the MCB, spoke about the Muslim Council's remarkable journey of 16 years which is dedicated "to no other task but building an inclusive, positive and progressive British Muslim community. Our struggle has never been about privileges or special dispensations. It is about equal recognition and participation". He talked about the ethos of charity giving in Islam which "has led to ever increasing numbers of Muslim charities in the UK. Many of these charities are affiliates of the MCB and they do diverse and wonderful work across all corners of the world". He said, "the positive contribution we make to humanity is something we and Britain should be proud of'. He went on to say that it was his Islamic duty that whilst we celebrated our contributions abroad, we remember the critical importance of investing within the communities and neighbourhoods in this country. He said, "in these times of economic hardship it is essential we invest back in the community which has done so much."
The keynote speaker Professor Dr Numan Kurtulmus, Vice Chairman of AKP (Justice and Development Party of Turkey) spoke about how the presence of the Muslim community will contribute to world peace – "it brings new ideas to the world to help resolve many of the issues". He said, "many people came in this country with the purpose of surviving in life" and talked about how men and women worked hard to build important institutions. He congratulated MCB for its achievements. He talked about the importance of the Muslim community to share our values and traditions with others. Professor Numan said that the Quranic term Ma'ruf doesn't only mean prayer but it is a universal term which includes freedom, justice and solidarity". He said "we have to provide for the next generations. You have enough devoted people to work for the future of your community".
Rushanara Ali, MP for Bethnal Green and Bow said in her keynote speech, "As Muslims, it is part of who we are, charitable giving, it's part of our duty". She said "It is our moral duty to support the poorest, here or abroad, whatever our backgrounds. We know in these difficult economic times, charitable giving is much harder. We know through remittances and charitable giving, the Muslim community is generous". She congratulated all the charities on the efforts they make to help others in need.
Saleh Saeed, CEO of DEC, thanked MCB - "the leadership that you have in reaching out to communities, people in all walks of life – diplomats and above all the interfaith engagement are all highly commendable". He informed that many Muslim NGO's are some of the leading humanitarian organisations in the world. However, he stressed on the importance of "moving away from competition to a more collaborative way of working".
John Denham MP addressed the audience and spoke about his attendance 16 years earlier at the MCB's inaugural reception to where we are now, "a council of British Muslims who share that common commitment in the community to building, shaping and growing this country of ours". He went on to say, "the charities that you support through your voluntary giving, clearly are (principles) in culture and faith. This country faces huge problems, challenges for leaders from wherever they come from but we also have enormous potential, not least within the Muslim community. It gives us links of language, of kinship, of friendship, of knowledge, of business relationships, of political relationships, in so many of the significant areas of the world with which this country needs to have friendship and relations. The Muslim community is part of the strength on which together we will build this country. It is an astonishing journey that have been made by the communities in such a short period of time, that in my view that journey has only really just started and the best is yet to come".
Lord Qurban Hussain spoke about his experience and how he started off volunteering to help those less fortunate and how he has witnessed from his early days how much voluntary work the Muslim community does.. Muslims have in this country, worked very hard". He commented on how sections of the media "don't recognise the positive contributions from our community".
The event was also attended by Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Bruce MP, Chair of the International development Committee in the House of Commons.
[ ENDS] Note to Editors: The Muslim Council of Britain (www.mcb.org.uk) is the UK's representative Muslim umbrella body with over 400 affiliated national, regional and local organisations, mosques, charities and schools.


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WCF Service Application Documentation 2012
• Purpose
Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is a framework for building service-oriented applications. Using WCF, you can send data as asynchronous messages from one service endpoint to another. A service endpoint can be part of a continuously available service hosted by IIS, or it can be a service hosted in an application. An endpoint can be a client of a service that requests data from a service endpoint. The messages can be as simple as a single character or word sent as XML, or as complex as a stream of binary data.
• Scope
This document covers technical details for creating Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) service application.
2: Steps for Creating WCF Service
2.1 Create WCF Service Application
• Open visual studio 2008(and above) and select new->Project->Visual C# -> WCF Service Application.
Give service name and click OK
• It will create one class i.e. ServiceName.svc.cs and interface i.e. Iservice.cs
• Add the method and logic as per user requirements within a class ServiceName.svc.cs
2.2 Browse Service to get Service address
• Run or browse the Service Application to get the service address. It will appear following screen
• Click on service (here service name is transaction.svc) to get the service address.
2.3 Add service reference in web app
• Right Click on web application and select Add Service Reference
• Add service reference in address field and click OK
• Now you can use WCF service in your application.
3. WCF Service Details:
3.1 WCF Service working:
In WCF service, user sends request through application and WCF service process that request and send response back to user application. Above figure shows WCF Service working.
WCF services are hosted using 3 different ways. They can be hosted in IIS or self-hosted or in services. WCF services are platform independent so they can be used in any programming languages. WCF services are easy to implement and access than soap services.
This article was written by the Imaginovation team. They are a Raleigh web design and software development company who uses .NET, PHP, HTML5, JavaScript, and jQuery technologies.
(Note: Opinions expressed in this article and its replies are the opinions of their respective authors and not those of DZone, Inc.)


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Video: Defensive Revolver
Bonus Content and Special Features
From the FMG Publications Network
**NEW** Thunder Ranch Training Videos featuring Clint Smith
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Wheel guns are REAL guns. Learn to shoot them correctly.
Highlights from the new Thunder Ranch Defensive Revolver DVD hosted by firearms training expert Clint Smith. – 04:18


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Attention, all ye gamers!
, 7th September 2012 at 06:59 AM (204 Views)
Just to let you know, Final Fantasy VII is out on the PlayStation Store for the Vita. To get it, you must get the system update for the Vita. And then you must get a PlayStation Network account. Then you have to add 10 dollars to your wallet. Then you have to wait about 35 minutes for it to download.
The second step is what makes me think Sony hates gamers.


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Weston, Vermont is home to the famous Vermont Country Store, the Weston Village Store and the Weston Village Christmas Shop. These shops will keep you coming back year after year. Take a treasure hunt and discover products long gone from store shelves including Tangee lipstick, pants stretchers, the largest selection of weathervanes in Vermont, The Vermont Scale Museum, and a year 'round Christmas Shop. Shopping in Weston is like taking a nostalgic step back in time when life was simpler, and proprietors operated their family businesses. Also check out the three Galleries in town where you will find a unique gift or a one of a kind work of art. Visit with local artist and craftsmen and experience personal shopping found no where else.
The Shops of Weston Vermont
The Vermont
Country Store
Since 1946, The Vermont Country Store has charmed locals and visitors alike with its abundance of practical goods and memorable brands you can't find anywhere else. Amid countless antiques and oddities from floor to rafters, you'll still discover such long-forgotten favorites as Tangee lipstick, Charles Chips, 30° below socks, and a counter filled with old-fashioned penny candies, along with new products that are also useful, work, and just make plain sense in today's world.
Address: | 657 Main St Weston, Vermont 05161 |
Phone: | (802)824-3184 |
Website: | www.vermontcountrystore.com |
Hours: | 9:00-6:00 7 Days, Open until 7:00 p.m. Christmas week |
Click here to view our Store Brochure
Weston Village Christmas Shop
Capture the spirit of Christmas year round in this nineteenth century barn. Dozens of lighted trees decorated with ornaments from around the world. Collectibles include Dept. 56, Snow Babies, Christopher Radko, Byers' Choice, Charming Trails, Fontanini and Pipka. Unique Santa snowmen, German Nutcrackers and a large selection of sports ornaments.
Address: | 660 Main St Weston, Vermont 05161 |
Phone: | (802)824-4409 |
Hours: | 9:30-5:00 7 Days in seasonClosed Jan -Mid May |
Weston Village Store
You haven't seen Weston's original country store until you've visited us. We have been graciously serving our customers since 1891. Nostalgic gifts, local pottery, wooden bowls, candles, books, plush animals and T-shirts. We also feature Vermont's largest selection of weathervanes. Be sure to check out our great prices on pure Vermont maple syrup.
Address: | 660 Main St Weston, Vermont 05161 |
Phone: | (802)824-5477 |
Website: | www.westonvillagestore.com |
Hours: | 9:00-5:00 7 Days9:00-8:00 in July & August |
Cheese and
Fudge Emporium
The Village Cheese and Fudge Emporium has a wide selection of gourmet cheeses and homemade fudge guaranteed to make your mouth water.
Address: | 660 Main St Weston, Vermont 05161 |
Phone: | (802)824-5477 |
Website: | www.westonvillagestore.com |
Hours: | 9:00-5:00 7 Days 9:00-8:00 in July & August |
The Weston Marketplace Delicatessen
The Weston Marketplace Delicatessen features home-made soups, chili, salads and sandwiches (It's where the locals eat!). Large selection of Vermont cheese, maple syrup, wine, soda, beer or the little something you forgot from your grocery list and snack foods too. Fill your car up with gas or grab some oil for your snowmobile.
Address: | 772 Main St Weston, Vermont 05161 |
Phone: | (802)824-5818 |
Hours: | 6:00-6:00 Mon-Fri 7:00-6:00 Sat & Sun |
Morgan Hill Farm
We are a family farm located in the green mountains of Vermont. Over the last ten years, what began as a vegetable garden and a small batch maple syrup production, has become a 300+ acre working farm raising all natural beef and pork. Our Farm stand carries seasonal produce, all natural beef and pork, artisanal cheese and a variety of locally crafted and unique Vermont items. Make sure to stop by during sugaring season in March/April to witness our maple syrup being made right here on the farm .
Address: | 3 Johnson Hill Road Weston, Vermont 05161 |
Phone: | (802)824-4899 |
Website: | www.morganhillfarmvt.com |
Hours: | 12:00-6:00 Tues-Sat |
Weston, Vermont Art Galleries
Whales In Vermont Gallery
Visit the studio/home/gallery of reknowed whale artist, Wick Ahrens. Wick's gallery exhibits a unique and exquisite collection of animal and wildlife art, featuring over twenty nationally known wildlife artists. Wick's famous whale sculptures and carvings are also on display. Stop by and you'll be greeted by my three Australian shepherds, Scrimshaw, Cetacea, and Ambergris. Located right behind the Inn At Weston at the end of Mill Lane.
Address: | 630 Main St Weston, Vermont 05161 |
Phone: | (802)824-3604 |
Website | www.WickAhrens.com |
Hours: | Most all of the time. If my truck is there, I'm there. CLOSED: When the gate is closed. Best to call first |
The Village Green Gallery
Featuring Exquisite Vermont Images by Wayne "Nobushi" Fujii, select artisan handcrafts by some of Vermont's finest artists and a Coffeebar/WiFi Salon. Exhibits change seasonally and feature handblown glass, ceramics, wooden bowls, fine woodwork, jewelry, cloth bags and sculpture. The Coffeebar/WiFi Salon serves espresso, cappuccino, fair trade organic coffees, artisan teas, chocolates and fresh baked goods and has quickly become Weston's newest "Hotspot" and gathering place. Located in Weston's original Post Office 661 Main Street (Rte 100) next to the Vermont Country Store and Weston Village Green.
Address: | 661 Main St Weston, Vermont 05161 |
Phone: | (802)824-3669 |
Website: | www.villagegreengallery.com |
Hours: | 9:30-5 Tues-Sun |
Please note: sadly The Weston Bowl Mill is no longer in business


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Based upon a discussion we are having in the Idea area, I wonder - how do you define morality and why? Where does your definition come from?
I have been working on curriculum for college students that incorporates literature and the notion of being a moral, ethical person; it is clear that I need to step back and first come up with a clearer definition of morality or ethics.
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Jan 26 2013: According to me , morality does come from the codes that your parents have taught since childhood regarding the behaviour etc. It also relates to teachings from the environment exposure during the course of time. I feel so since moral standards does differ from person to person since their perspective regarding a particular thing is different.
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Everton v Reading Premier League Highlights 03/02/13
Premier League - 1 year ago
Watching: How would Reading respond to its 3-0 defeat to Wigan when the Royals travel to Goodison Park?
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