Lexicon Valley from Booksmart Studios
Lexicon Valley from Booksmart Studios
The Haphazard History of C
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The Haphazard History of C

How did Etruscan, a language that has been dead for 2,000 years, give rise to the third letter of our alphabet?

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And now, back to the Valley …


John McWhorter breaks down the letter C.

The letters C and K can both represent what we might call a Hard C — as in Cosmo Kramer or Calvin Klein. Not to mention Q, which usually indicates that same sound. Why does the English alphabet have this confusing redundancy? John explains.

Lexicon Valley from Booksmart Studios
Lexicon Valley from Booksmart Studios
A podcast about language, with host John McWhorter.