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Ok, let's define what a letter is. The Shrike Send a noteboard - 18/01/2018 11:25:22 PM

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They're writing conventions that were never really properly letters. This is evidenced by the fact that they don't have Old English names like thorn, eth, ash, etc. They appeared later in the language with the advent of printing presses to save time and space and aren't really properly separate letters that we "lost". Particularly the ampersand, considering that it's used today - and isn't really a letter despite what the jackass who did the video seems to think.

Is the long s a variation of the letter S?

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The Fascinating History of 10 Extra Letters the English Alphabet Used to Have - 18/01/2018 06:35:45 PM 1269 Views
I have to take issue with the & and the "long s" - 18/01/2018 07:28:09 PM 592 Views
Ok, let's define what a letter is. - 18/01/2018 11:25:22 PM 649 Views
Yes, the long "s" is just a variant. It didn't have a name in Old English. - 19/01/2018 03:39:51 PM 790 Views
I don't think not having a name in Old English matters here. - 19/01/2018 05:05:47 PM 902 Views
I think it does, quite definitively. - 20/01/2018 08:46:24 PM 646 Views
All th Germans I have known have considered ß to be a letter. - 20/01/2018 11:01:40 PM 713 Views
ß is a ligature - 21/01/2018 04:04:48 PM 598 Views
That article is even sloppier than the first - 20/01/2018 09:01:33 PM 597 Views
All letters were once "fake". - 20/01/2018 10:59:11 PM 691 Views
Isn't that kind of idealist - 21/01/2018 08:02:14 AM 629 Views
Realist perhaps - 22/01/2018 01:54:14 AM 600 Views
Pivots - 22/01/2018 03:43:56 AM 712 Views
Meanwhile - 22/01/2018 12:23:13 PM 561 Views
Olympics are grand aren't they? *NM* - 22/01/2018 05:23:56 PM 328 Views
Deutschland, Deutschland! - 22/01/2018 05:26:50 PM 493 Views
No, actually that's quite incorrect. - 21/01/2018 04:14:18 PM 631 Views
You've missed the point. - 22/01/2018 01:53:59 AM 651 Views
No, I'm trying to show the qualitative difference between the two events. - 22/01/2018 04:34:20 PM 529 Views
The letter J? *NM* - 22/01/2018 05:19:14 PM 384 Views
No, J is a lot like the long s. - 22/01/2018 07:23:01 PM 584 Views
Feels we are talking past each other. - 22/01/2018 07:52:53 PM 668 Views
You're wrong. - 23/01/2018 01:21:26 AM 700 Views
Agreed. Ligatures aren't letters. *NM* - 19/01/2018 06:13:43 AM 357 Views
Eh . . . the Ampersand is probably now considered a logogram rather than a ligature. - 19/01/2018 01:27:21 PM 582 Views
ſ is just a variant. *NM* - 19/01/2018 03:40:53 PM 406 Views
I enjoy this thread muchly...yet I will not participate besides saying - 19/01/2018 10:46:40 PM 588 Views
You're using sublime too often; it's losing its luster - 20/01/2018 12:15:10 AM 624 Views
Do I? (in regards to sublime) - 20/01/2018 12:46:35 AM 590 Views
(in regards to sublime) - 20/01/2018 03:18:04 PM 614 Views
Brilliant! *NM* - 20/01/2018 03:38:39 PM 347 Views
- 20/01/2018 11:20:11 PM 601 Views
*NM* - 23/01/2018 09:18:01 PM 338 Views
Is this payback for the irritating word, Umami? - 24/01/2018 07:25:56 AM 506 Views
Upapi? *NM* - 25/01/2018 08:41:14 PM 374 Views
Thank all gods everywhere they are gone. - 22/01/2018 12:23:34 PM 590 Views
Some other letters should go too. - 22/01/2018 01:12:31 PM 652 Views
How would you replace the ch sound? - 22/01/2018 04:15:04 PM 601 Views
I thought of removing C, as well. - 22/01/2018 06:16:20 PM 582 Views
The CH is a problem. - 22/01/2018 06:34:47 PM 503 Views
And calling people you don't like "fu king unts"? *NM* - 22/01/2018 07:25:29 PM 443 Views
Meanwhile if it were written as fuking kunts, no one would have any issues - 22/01/2018 07:54:41 PM 664 Views
I have an issue, kunts looks too much like nuts or knuts - 22/01/2018 08:09:52 PM 589 Views
Would you prefer a Knut? - 22/01/2018 10:55:09 PM 550 Views
Yes I like my internet memes and thus I do not want to be confused by that word sometimes directed - 23/01/2018 10:28:58 PM 541 Views
Yes, ask him - 24/01/2018 01:32:08 AM 558 Views
Totes I will ask him about Tot *NM* - 24/01/2018 09:49:45 PM 372 Views
Yes, about the meanings. Pronounced quite differently. - 25/01/2018 06:17:22 PM 659 Views
Scheisse. I did forget it. - 26/01/2018 05:24:21 PM 559 Views
You mean Scheiße? *NM* - 26/01/2018 06:49:26 PM 365 Views
No. I mean Scheisse. *NM* - 26/01/2018 07:15:21 PM 377 Views
*NM* - 26/01/2018 11:07:18 PM 428 Views
*NM* - 28/01/2018 02:15:03 AM 355 Views
all those k's.... - 22/01/2018 08:23:09 PM 533 Views
So . . . no Klondike bars or Kit Kats for you. - 22/01/2018 10:55:53 PM 639 Views
But it would look "fuking" stupid - 23/01/2018 01:30:15 AM 568 Views
All languages change - 23/01/2018 01:40:18 AM 539 Views
They change, but resistance is not futile. - 23/01/2018 02:10:17 AM 610 Views
Also, you're not talking about the language changing. You're talking about changing the language. - 23/01/2018 02:16:39 AM 627 Views
I am being a realist who understands that spellings change. Letters get dropped. Language evolves. - 23/01/2018 06:53:25 PM 686 Views
It is posts like this that remind me why you are my RAFO tree - 23/01/2018 10:29:53 PM 533 Views
Nope sadly he did not *NM* - 23/01/2018 10:30:09 PM 294 Views
What are you talking about here? - 24/01/2018 12:21:55 PM 579 Views
I am talking about Logograms - 24/01/2018 09:48:48 PM 576 Views
Evolution, not revolution - 23/01/2018 10:54:37 PM 684 Views

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