Spotty's Little Known Facts

[Montreal Wanderer]

Also, learned yesterday in a pub quiz that the dot over the i and j is called...a tittle.

I believe a tittle has a more general sense of any small mark or check in writing, including said dot.

So he's right then !

Yes, of course - I believe all dots on the i are tittles, but not all tittles are dots on the i.

[thebish]

Also, learned yesterday in a pub quiz that the dot over the i and j is called...a tittle.

I believe a tittle has a more general sense of any small mark or check in writing, including said dot.

So he's right then !

Yes, of course - I believe all dots on the i are tittles, but not all tittles are dots on the i.

and, as KeyserSoze entirely correctly said - "the dot over the i and j is called...a tittle".

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Who on earth decided to name them titties?

[thebish]

Who on earth decided to name them titties?

there's only two tittles in titties... tittle-ating...

[bobo the clown]

Where does it go when the letter is capitalised ?

mummy ..... it's a mystery.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Who on earth decided to name them titties?

there's only two tittles in titties... tittle-ating...

Think I need new readers

[TANGODANCER]

Where does it go when the letter is capitalised ?

mummy ..... it's a mystery.

I once read something about the history of the i's and t's in printing but can't find it now. (Monty?).

[Montreal Wanderer]

Where does it go when the letter is capitalised ?

mummy ..... it's a mystery.

I once read something about the history of the i's and t's in printing but can't find it now. (Monty?).

I'm not sure. It would appear the dot came after the introduction of printing. i and j were the same letter at this juncture. An elongated version was used when the i was a separate word or number. Dots were added to the lower case versions later. See

The pronoun I began to be 'capitalized' around the middle of the 13th century. But this was not true capitalization. Note that it was long before the printing press: all texts were in manuscript.

Before the 11th century, the letter i was normally just a short vertical line, without a dot, ı. The j did not exist as a separate letter. When an ı was written as a separate word or mark, as the Roman numeral ı/I and the pronoun ı/I, or when it was the last one of a group of ı's, it began to be written elongated, somewhat like a straighter ȷ (without a dot). This elongation of the separate, single ı was probably done in order to avoid confusion with punctuation marks. That of the last ı of a group was mostly in order to avoid confusion between u and ıı, between n and ıı, and between m and ııı, which often look identical in manuscripts: from then on, such groups looked like ıȷ and ııȷ (without dots).

I believe that this convention of elongating the pronoun I had already been established by the time the dot was first used. Because a long ȷ without a dot looks much like a capital I—which has been written the same way since Antiquity—, it was later assumed to be a capital. (Incidentally, the dot was then usually written as a very short diagonal line above the ı or ȷ.)

From http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=I" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; :

The reason for writing I is ... the orthographic habit in the middle ages of using a 'long i' (that is, j or I) whenever the letter was isolated or formed the last letter of a group; the numeral 'one' was written j or I (and three iij, etc.), just as much as the pronoun. [Otto Jespersen, "Growth and Structure of the English Language," p.233]

[bobo the clown]

Apparently ....This month is a one in a lifetime. Many lifetmes in fact.

The only time you'll ever see 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays in a single month.

Happens once every 823 years I am told

[Dujon]

Err, no, bobo. Any month of 31 days with the first of the month falling on a Friday will have the triple 5s - it has to. May next year, for example?

[Prufrock]

Yup, v weird internet rumour that our kid fell for.

[Montreal Wanderer]

Err, no, bobo. Any month of 31 days with the first of the month falling on a Friday will have the triple 5s - it has to. May next year, for example?

Indeed, 2016 has two such months with January and October. There are only 14 possible calendars (January 1 occurring on each of the days of the week for seven calendars and the other seven to account for leap years - the cycle is much shorter than eight centuries).

How quickly they forgot March 2013!

[bobo the clown]

#2 son is to be tweaked. Have that as an alternative 'little known fact'.

[Prufrock]

The terms venomous and poisonous are often used interchangeably, but incorrectly. There is, in fact, a difference between a venomous insect and a poisonous insect.

Both venomous and poisonous animals produce a toxin that is injurious or even lethal to another organism. The real difference between the two terms involves how that toxin is delivered.

Venomous organisms deliver or inject venom into other organisms, using a specialized apparatus of some kind (usually fangs or a stinger).

Poisonous organisms, on the other hand, do not deliver their toxins directly. The entire body, or large parts of it, may contain the poisonous substance. These organisms may be harmful when eaten or touched.

[Beefheart]

The terms venomous and poisonous are often used interchangeably, but incorrectly. There is, in fact, a difference between a venomous insect and a poisonous insect.

Both venomous and poisonous animals produce a toxin that is injurious or even lethal to another organism. The real difference between the two terms involves how that toxin is delivered.

Venomous organisms deliver or inject venom into other organisms, using a specialized apparatus of some kind (usually fangs or a stinger).

Poisonous organisms, on the other hand, do not deliver their toxins directly. The entire body, or large parts of it, may contain the poisonous substance. These organisms may be harmful when eaten or touched.

Pffft, that was on QI years ago.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

You see, I go away from the thread for a while and you get served up facts which are either wrong or well known...

[Dujon]

Well, here are a few facts which will likely not be known by readers of this site:

A} The Sydney Funnel Web spider (amongst others of its species) is venomous.
B) An antivenene, or anti-venom - take your pick - was developed only as recently as the early '80s of the last century.
C) Despite its fearsome reputation only just over a dozen deaths have been recorded as Funnel Web victims.
D) Since the production of the antivenene began there have been no recorded deaths from Funnel Web spider "bites".
E) The antivenene is produced by 'milking' captured spiders. There is no artificial means of producing it at this time.
F) Most mammals are impervious to envenoming (other than the discomfort of a strike).
G) I still don't like funnel web spiders.

[bobo the clown]

Here's a little known fact AND one to amaze us all :

On Tuesday August 12, 2014 Dougie Freeman saw fit to play a midfield combination of Pratley and Trotter. Together. As a starting pair.

That's all.

[a1]

meh, makes more sense than playing elmander and petrov there against a team of giants

still carnt believe that one

[thebish]

Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan. Probably the only Test cricketer with 10 "a"s in his name...