How the ampersand got its name
Have you ever wondered about the ‘&’ symbol and how it came to be called an ampersand?
The story actually involves a corruption of the language and a mispronunciation when reciting the old alphabet.
According to the Wikipedia, when the alphabet was traditionally recited in English-speaking schools, any letter that could also be used as a word in itself ("A", "I", and, at one point, "O") was repeated with the Latin expression per se ("by itself"), as in "A per se A".
It was also common practice to add the & sign at the end of the alphabet as if it were the 27th letter, pronounced as the Latin et or later in English as and.
As a result, the recitation of the alphabet would end in "X, Y, Z, and per se and". This last phrase was routinely slurred to ‘ampersand’ and the term had entered common English usage by 1837.
What fascinating facts about the English language do you know?
“What fascinating facts about the English language do you know?”
That's a toughie since most of this mob don’t speak English. but speaking for myself how about the words with double meanings, e.g. a bat (coronavirus carrier) and bat (cricket).