Origins: pictogram of a house floorplan (1)
Greek: beta
Frequency: 20th most frequent letter in English (2)
"B" from Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language (1755): "The second letter of the English alphabet, is pronounced as in most other European languages, by pressing the whole length of the lips together, and forcing them open with a strong breath. The Spaniards, in most words, use B or V indifferently." (3)
Of Interest:
The lower case b came about when scribes in Roman
The lower case b came about when scribes in Roman
times got lazy when writing and left out the upper loop of the capital B. (4)
The only difference between the "buh" B sound and the "puh" P sound is that when you do the "puh", you let out a puff of air. (Linguists, feel free to correct me with the fine nuances I'm missing...)
Many idioms begin with the letter B: Back seat drive, Back to back, Baker's dozen, Bend over backwards, Bite your tongue (more here).
The only difference between the "buh" B sound and the "puh" P sound is that when you do the "puh", you let out a puff of air. (Linguists, feel free to correct me with the fine nuances I'm missing...)
Many idioms begin with the letter B: Back seat drive, Back to back, Baker's dozen, Bend over backwards, Bite your tongue (more here).
8 comments:
I've been working on my B sentence all day! I'm in the works of a second one also :)
Bathing beauties bask beneath bright blazing beams.
"Blimey!" blurted Brandon before brandishing bitter bananas.
Bare-backed baboons battled blind, burrowing behemoths beneath Babylon.
Before becoming Boston's brashest billionaire, Barry Bullfrog bet big by building bridges, buying banks, breaking budgets.
Bob's bassoon bellows beautiful ballads but Bertha's bagpipes bewilder bystanders.
Barbaric beagles brought bananas by barge.
Being born barefoot, brazen babies benefit by brandishing booties.
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