J is a consonant in English, but some nations use it as a vowel --
than which nothing could be more absurd. Its original form, which has
been but slightly modified, was that of the tail of a subdued dog, and
it was not a letter but a character, standing for a Latin verb,
_jacere_, "to throw," because when a stone is thrown at a dog the
dog's tail assumes that shape. This is the origin of the letter, as
expounded by the renowned Dr. Jocolpus Bumer, of the University of
Belgrade, who established his conclusions on the subject in a work of
three quarto volumes and committed suicide on being reminded that the
j in the Roman alphabet had originally no curl.
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
than which nothing could be more absurd. Its original form, which has
been but slightly modified, was that of the tail of a subdued dog, and
it was not a letter but a character, standing for a Latin verb,
_jacere_, "to throw," because when a stone is thrown at a dog the
dog's tail assumes that shape. This is the origin of the letter, as
expounded by the renowned Dr. Jocolpus Bumer, of the University of
Belgrade, who established his conclusions on the subject in a work of
three quarto volumes and committed suicide on being reminded that the
j in the Roman alphabet had originally no curl.
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
Related:
- T, the twentieth letter of the English alphabet, was by the Greeks
absurdly called _tau_.
In the alphabet whence ours comes it had the form of... - K is a consonant that we get from the Greeks, but it can be traced
away back beyond them to the Cerathians,
a small commercial nation inhabiting the peninsula... - X in our alphabet being a needless letter has an added invincibility
to the attacks of the spelling reformers,
and like them, will doubtless last as long as the language... - EFFECT, n. The second of two phenomena which always occur together in
the same order.
The first, called a Cause, is said to generate the... - DOG, n. A kind of additional or subsidiary Deity designed to catch
the overflow and surplus of the world's worship.
This Divine Being in some of his smaller and silkier... - IN'ARDS, n. The stomach, heart, soul and other bowels.
Many eminent investigators do not class the soul as... - HIBERNATE, v.i. To pass the winter season in domestic seclusion.
There have been many singular popular notions about... - MIND, n. A mysterious form of matter secreted by the brain.
Its chief activity consists in the endeavor to ascertain... - 0: Numeric zero, as opposed to the letter `O' (the 15th letter of
the English alphabet).
In their unmodified forms they look a lot alike...
