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Ampersand: From Letter to Punctuation—The Surprising History of a Symbol in English
Episode 238
Published 1 day, 2 hours ago
Description
In this episode we trace the ampersand’s journey from its Latin roots as a ligature for "et" to its brief status as a 27th alphabet letter in Victorian schools, and finally to its modern role as punctuation and pop‑culture icon. We explore how scribes, printers, educators, and even early digital media shaped this symbol’s identity across centuries of English use.
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