Have you ever found yourself wishing you didn’t have to write out the whole word “the” all the time? And you do write it a lot. It is the most frequently used word in the English language. I can’t say that I have ever thought writing out “the” was such an onerous business, I mean it is only three letters long. In college when I had to take notes, and we are talking pre-laptop era, I would pretty much leave “the” out entirely. It’s one of those words you can drop and still understand what is going on.
But apparently Paul Mathis in Australia thinks that we need a ligature for “the” like we have the ampersand for “and.” So he is advocating βΠβ be it. In case you can’t tell, that is a capital “T” with the hump of a lowercase ‘h” attached. He even has a website, Twitter account and YouTube video for the symbol.
It’s easy to write, I tried it. But I am not sure I would ever use it like I do an ampersand. It doesn’t belong in formal writing and I think Mathis knows this as he is saying how great it is for use in texting. But like I left out “the” when taking notes in college, I often leave out the word when I text too.
I get where he is coming from in wanting to have a symbol but it just doesn’t seem necessary. Would you use it?
Nope! I barely use ampersand unless space constrained and while in college I did get a laptop, but still wrote with hand and left off the and whole lot of punctuations!! In fact I text in complete sentences and DO NOT LIKE using text language like Ma for mine or other such stuff! I mean we have murdered the language enough as is….shortcuts is like a double autopsy on a dead body!
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cirtnecce, I don’t use an ampersand much either, mostly in short notes to myself or husband and in texts. I do love that the ampersand has become a font designer’s creative stamp. I have an iPad app that’s all ampersands and I just love looking at them because they can be quite striking and beautiful. Your “double autopsy on a dead body” comment cracked me up π
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As strange as it sounds, I’ve always liked the look of “the’ as a word, but that it a lovely character.
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Liz, I don’t think that sounds strange at all. The letter sizes and shapes do have a nice balance together.
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It sort of seems like it would be harder to come up with that symbol all the time than just three letters. I’d rather have shortcuts for longer words!
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rhapsody, I know what you mean. And on a keyboard, well, there is no easy way to make the symbol. The guy has android apps but I think it is more trouble than its worth really. Shortcuts for longer frequently use words would be awesome!
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probs not. The farthest I go is using the “little word” symbol in charades.
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Jeanne, ha! Charades! I haven’t played in ages.
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I don’t think I need another habit to incorporate. I’d have to make an effort to remember to use the symbol; however, I do think he came up with a nice one.
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jenclair, he did come up with a nice and easy symbol, but yeah, incorporating it is something I’m not up for either since I really don’t see the point.
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I already use something like that. When I’m writing in longhand, and I tend to write quickly, I often only write ‘th’. That’s just when I’m writing for myself. I try to slow down and write legibly when I’m writing to other people.
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Joan, you are ahead of the curve! π
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Paul Mathis seems to have a lot of time on his hands. My mother insisted I take typing and shorthand in high school even though I was headed for college. Those skills actually helped put me through school – I always got great summer secretarial jobs working for temp agencies. I used shorthand to take notes in college, and I still use it today for all sorts of work situations. The symbol for “the” is one simple, softly curved stroke. “Appeared and testified” is hardly more than that. Unfortunately, I don’t think they teach Gregg (or Pittman) shorthand anymore. It also has the added bonus that I can be writing notes that say, “What a stupid idiot” or “This dude is from Planet Dumb and Dumber” or “Did you get your law degree from a Cracker Jack box,” and no one looking at my notes is any the wiser. I just sit there with a confident, mysterious grin on my face – like Mona Lisa…only wearing sensible shoes.
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Grad, oh you are a tricksy one with your shorthand! I wonder why it isn’t taught anymore? So useful for note taking it seems. I would have loved to learn it. But then if it were still taught your little game in meetings would be up! π
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And just how often does the normal everyday person use the ampersand? I don’t. This reminds me of the attempt to come up with a neutral pronoun to replace either she or he. Language change comes about naturally. You can’t impose it.
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Alex, good question! I can’t say I use an ampersand very often, mostly in notes to myself and I don’t write many of those. I would like a neutral pronoun still though. In the US “their” is worming its way into that role which is much better than all those made up possibilities. You are right, language changes naturally which is both a delight and a horror in some ways but always interesting!
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I don’t mind typing the, or writing it for that matter. On a computer you could always create a macro and then use one keystroke even! Ah, the way the world is changing eh….
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Danielle, heh, yup, if you were so desperate not to type “the” on a computer a macro would do the trick. I don’t think smartphones do macros though so the little symbol could come in handy but then text speak pretty much does away with a lot of the work most of the time.
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I agree with Alex and I know a historical example of trying to make linguistic change. I have read that the Emperor Claudius actually introduced new letters into the Latin alphabet. They seemed to make sense, but they dropped into disuse after his death.
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Ed, interesting example! I had not hear of Claudius’s attempt before. I am glad the letters dropped out of use. I like our quirky alphabet as it is. π
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Try as I might, I cannot write a decent ampersand and so fail to use it. I don’t think writing T-h-e is very time consuming; I recall when in school I sped up my note-taking by not crossing my t’s and dotting my i’s until the end of the lecture. In answer to your question, I would say nay. I liked what cirtnecce wrote, “I mean we have murdered the language enough as isβ¦.shortcuts is like a double autopsy on a dead body!”
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Vanessa, heh, I gave up trying to write a decent one long ago and fell into making this upside and backwards looking four. But since I only use it for myself it doesn’t much matter how bad it looks. “the” is not time consuming to write, I agree. And didn’t cirtnecce make a great comment! π
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How embarrassing, I’ve never heard of Mr Mathis! The only advantage I can see for the symbol is it would mean I’d never again have to correct “teh”! I love the look of ampersands too, but like you really only use them in notes, not in typing.
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whisperinggums, and you call yourself an Australian? I’m beginning to wonder if maybe you live in New Zealand instead π My fingers often get themselves all mixed up I type “teh”quite a lot. Than goodness autocorrect gets most of them. I don’t use ampersands much in typing either which is sad because I like them so much.
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Oh you’ve outed me! I thought I was doing such a great job of protecting my privacy by throwing you off the scent with all my Aussie lit posts! And now, one slip and I’m done for! LOL Autocorrect is certainly great sometimes … as I wrote that comment I realised that I don’t end up with “teh” anywhere near as much as I used to. I wanted to think my typing had improved but I fear not!
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