Been
more than twenty years around the In My Backpack website.
And, as far as I can tell, this is the first essay I’ve ever written
with a title that begins with the letter Z.
That
many not seem like much to you, but I have a lot—read A LOT—of
essays that begin with “the” and several that start with “technology”
as starters for the title. There are other popular words. But
any word with a Z? Nope. Nothing shows up.
Looks
like X also doesn’t have an essay filed under it. This may not
sound all that important or significant. But…
If
you’ve ever driven in car for even three minutes with a child
in the backseat that is fascinated with the alphabet game—“I’m
going on a picnic, and I’m bringing A apples, B bananas, C cupcakes”—these
things take on a special status.
Over
the years, you cannot imagine how many unicorns and zebras I’ve
brought to libraries, aquariums, zoos and sleepovers. Also played
many xylophones.
In
general, it’s a weird subject. Personally, even when writing,
I’m not that aware of the letters I don’t use as often until something
like the alphabet game comes along. Yes, I know E is the most
commonly used letter. But beyond that it just doesn’t connect
all that much.
Did
you know most estimates place the letter E as used roughly 11-12%
of the time? True. Next is the letter A, hitting around 8-9%.
When you do the math—26 letters—you hit a rough average that falls
just below 4% if divided equally.
And,
for a moment, consider what you might not be considering: How
would you do the math? Because if you go by a standard dictionary,
most sources claim J joins Q and Z as the three least frequently
used letters. But, that use concept isn’t truly accurate. It’s
kind of vague. Looking to find out actual use of letters, and
not just taking a list of all the words and adding up letter appearances
word by word, it’s X that unites with Q and Z for top honors.
I
know of some people that work on projects and title them based
on going along with the alphabet. Eventually, they hope to use
twenty-six of them. In fairness, there are also folks fascinated
with numbers and colors and animals, so every book is named something
like Twenty Purple Turtles. (That and Fifteen Burgundy
Orangutans and Seventeen Yellow Zebras and… and…
and I didn’t really plan this out well enough, because I should
have started with A and B and one and two, but couldn’t quickly
come up with numbers for those letters keeping things in the right
order, which turned into thinking about a way for the numerical
values to keep rising while also moving through the alphabet in
order and still covering some interesting colors and animals.
It’s a thinker. It’s also exhausting. But not as exhausting as
a seven-year-old that wants to play the alphabet game.)
Alphabet
trivia. English language. Ready?
Which
letter is used to begin more words than any other?
It
may surprise you to learn that S is the first letter in more words
than any other.
Why
does X mark the spot?
Descartes
may be to blame. In the book The Geometry, the letters
A, B and C were used to represent known things. X, Y and Z the
unknown. The location of the treasure is, at the beginning of
the search, an unknown.
Which
letter does not appear in the name of any U.S. state?
Probably
unsurprising, it’s Q. How quickly you got that answer likely depends
on how quickly you remembered New Jersey for J and Arizona for
Z. (Anyone that forgot Texas and New Mexico, and went with X,
should probably stop playing.)
Are
there letters that don’t appear on the Periodic Table?
Yup.
J and Q.
Which
letter is the oldest?
The
answer appears to be O, but for a somewhat strange reason. Most
scholars point to its shape, saying that it is recognized as appearing
just over three thousand years ago. Side note: The youngest letter
is J.
Why
is it a T shirt?
If
you don’t know, and you didn’t guess correctly, you’re going to
have one of those “oh, duh” moments. Thanks to the sleeves, when
spread out the shirt looks kind of like a T.
If
you’ll excuse me, I have a picnic to attend. (And I don’t think
we have enough cupcakes to be sharing with everyone.)