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A.Word.A.Day--ampersand

ampersand (AM-puhr-sand) noun

The character or sign (&) representing the word and.

[Alteration of and per se and, meaning: & (the sign) by itself (is the word) and.]

"Why was the vicar offender by an ampersand? ... The Rev Paul Ainsworth, vicar of St Stephen's, Moortown, Leeds, objected to Marks & Spencer adverts which replaced the 'A' in CHRISTMAS with a '&'."
Quiz Of The Week; Independent on Sunday; Dec 21, 1997.

This week's theme: Words about punctuation and diacritics

X-Bonus

We shall never cease from exploration \ And the end of all our exploring \ Will be to arrive where we started \ And know the place for the first time. -T.S. Eliot

What they say

“Garg works in the great tradition of Wilfred Funk and Norman Lewis... Garg, however, is more fun.”

Minneapolis Star Tribune


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Anu Garg on words

“If you speak English, you speak at least a part of more than a hundred languages.”

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