Too short for words from Barton

Dear Word Snoop,

Talking of very short words, "I" is a very very short word, isn't it?

from Barton


Dear Barton,

I agree - "I" is a seriously short word. It used to be longer though, you know. It used to be "ik" or "ich". (In Old English, which is what people spoke in Old England.)

Actually, that's why we write "I" with a capital letter. (Ever wondered about that?) You see, when people stopped saying "ik" and started saying just "i" instead,they wrote it as a capital so that you could see it on the page and not just think it was a mistake!

Thanks for writing to me!

from your friendly Word Snoop