2 Quotes Tagged: alphabet

Why' is the only question that bothers people enough to have an entire letter of the alphabet named after it.

The alphabet does not go 'A B C D What? When? How?' but it does go 'V W X Why? Z.

The problem with the alphabet is that it bears no relation to anything at all, and when words are arranged alphabetically they are uselessly separated. In the OED, for example, aardvarks are 19 volumes away from the zoo, yachts are 18 volumes from the beach, and wine is 17 volumes from the nearest corkscrew.