Monday, February 28, 2005
Thanking the Alphabet-Jamie
This article shows how the alphabet came to be. For those of us who enjoy reading and writing, we have the alphabet to thank, as the title suggests. The article goes back to show the roots of the alphabet and the influences of the Phoenicians, giving examples of the original meanings of letters and sounds. There are also examples of how the letters are pronounced. The article concludes with how we like our letters so much by making them into words and putting them onto t-shirts, billboards, commercials, etc.
I find the alphabet to be an amazing thing. How else would we have mastered communication and the ability to read and write? Not only was it a clever invention, but as a very smart one. As David Sacks says, “The alphabet was an invention to change the world.” I would completely agree. Without the alphabet, there would be so many different changes in the world. Our ability to export and import items with other countries would be completely different and we wouldn’t have the resources that we do today. As a Business Communications major, I see how differently this would affect my major as well. I wouldn’t have the technology to work with for my major and would probably have to invent new ways of communication.
Another amazing thing to me is how in grade school, we can be taught differently from the actual sounds of the alphabet. There are so many translations for things it is hard to know what is right or wrong. I would have to say that I noticed this mostly moving from Minnesota to Michigan when I came to college. It’s hard to imagine what a big difference a little pronunciation can actually do.