Media and Writing Systems
Media and Writing Systems — Steve LovelaceWriting systems are affected by the media on which they are written. A good example is the Chinese writing system (as well as Japanese kana). Chinese is...
View ArticleSpelling Reform
Spelling Reform — Steve LovelaceEnglish Spelling is screwed up, though if you’re literate enough to read this sentence, you probably already know that. The real question is, what can we do to make it...
View ArticleLost Letters: The Greek Alphabet
Lost Letters: The Greek Alphabet — Steve LovelaceWhy does the English Alphabet have 26 letters? There’s nothing magical or important about that number. In fact, there’s nothing special about the 26...
View ArticleLost Letters: The Claudian Letters
Lost Letters: The Claudian Letters — Steve LovelaceLast week, we looked at some of the letters dropped from the Greek Alphabet — letters that never even made it into Latin. This week, we’ll look at the...
View ArticleLost Letters: Old English Letters
Lost Letters: Old English Letters — Steve LovelaceIn previous installments of this series, we’ve looked at letters of the alphabet made and lost in the days of ancient Greece and Rome. Now let’s look...
View ArticleLost Letters: Modern Spelling Reforms
Lost Letters: Modern Spelling Reforms — Steve LovelaceOver the centuries, many spelling reforms have tried to add new letters to the alphabet. Given that the Emperor Claudius couldn’t pull this off,...
View ArticleLost Letters: New Alphabets
Lost Letters: New Alphabets — Steve LovelaceOver the last couple of weeks, we’ve looked at letters of the alphabet that didn’t quite make the cut. Some of the these letters were added to the alphabet...
View ArticleRanch Dressing and Other Modern Inventions
Ranch Dressing and Other Modern Inventions — Steve LovelaceThere are many things in this world that are older than you might think. For example, the Pope’s title of “Pontiff” predates Christianity by...
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