Z what you can do with the most neglected letter
I wish I could say I started using the letter Z in the word ‘smiles’ yearz ago, in my signature at the bottom of my emailz, because when you audibly say the word “smiles” … it literally soundz like a Z at the end. Am I right?
However, I must confess.
I actually stole it from a good friend of mine roughly 30 yearz ago, back when people wrote handwritten letterz. My friend would alwayz sign-off with the “Smilz,” and that’s when I snatched it up and ran (didn’t walk) with it.
So she, Heather S., getz all the credit.
I’ve just been borrowing it for decadez. I think borrowing soundz so much better than steal. Let’s go with that. And I believe I read somewhere, something that said, ‘nothing is new under the sun,” so maybe she borrowed it from somewhere else? I should ask her.
As a journalism professor, I stress to every student the grave importance of spelling correctly. It’s not only required for college-level writing, but even more so with turning in copy to your editor for publishing. And don’t even get me started on spelling people’z namez correctly. So when I mean grave … I mean six-feet-under for your job career – should you misspell a sourcez’ name.
Of course there are exceptionz to the rulez – if you misspell wordz in an email, letter or text message – cool. No harm, no fowl. All’z fair in wordz and messaging warz.
You do realize that the letter Z is worth 10 pointz in Scrabble, right? And there’s also only ONE letter Z tile too. The letter S will garner you a measly one point, so why not throw around some heavy pointz whenever possible? Do it. I double dog dare you.
It’z just plain FUN! Life is too short, right? So why not live a little and use those underutilized Z’s when you can.
Did you know, based on large analysis of the English text (i.e. bookz, newspaperz and everyday writing), and competing with the Q’s and X’s, that the letter Z is the most underused letter of the English alphabet? It comez in at about .1%.
You know – I alwayz lean towardz the underdog. Or maybe I’m on a secret mission to change Z’s street cred, one column at a time?
And just so you have some fun factz to impress (or annoy) someone during party-talk, the letter E comez in az THE most often used letter, at roughly 12–13% of all letterz, followed by T, A, O, I and N.
I bet you thought the letter S was in the top tier, but it comez in around fourth (not bad) with 6-7% of all 26 letterz.
I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, I’ve been using the letter Z throughout this column, replacing most (not all) of the S letters. Doesn’t it just read better, have a nice smooth flow to it? Or maybe you’re thinking cringe-worthy? Like it’z irking you – because you want to go in and fix it all.
Either way – it’z just something to think about.
Have you noticed how some people (actorz) today, spell their kidz’ names unusually?
For example, Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick named their daughter Reign, instead of “Rain.” Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott named their daughter Stormi instead of “Stormy.” And we just skipped right over “Kourtney” … instead of the traditional spelling of Courtney.
Backing up even further, note how Kris (not Chris) Jenner and her late husband Robert Kardashian named their daughterz using the “K” pattern with Kourtney, Kim, Khloé and Kylie.
And not to get into a whole ‘nuther column, but Elon Musk and Grimes named their child a futuristic, almost code-like name of X Æ A-12, later adjusted to “X AE A-Xii” for legal reasonz.
My legal name is “Charleen” yet my mom spelled the ending with “een” instead of “ene” (Charlene) 62 years ago. And for the record, it wasn’t a fun, let’s-be-different-today kind of thing for my mom. Yet, as a teen, I was pissed, because there were zero cute keychainz with my name spelled correctly.
Not just in personal pronounz (names), but using phonetically-suited letterz in advertising productz is a thing too. And I’m fine with the fact that I’m probably the only one who getz excited when I see them.
There’z Krispy Kreme, Froot Loops, Tumblr, Flickr, Pibb Xtra and Cheez-It (I bet they thought the E was overused too), Reddit and Kool-Aid.
Okay, so I’m not trying to change tradition here … but come on, one must admit that using the letter Z instead of S is not only playful, memorable and even brandable, but it’s also a cool mix of creativity and linguisticz.
Bonus: Teachers may use this column as a word-spelling contest for their studentz. How many misspelled wordz did YOU find? Gold starz for the winnerz!
