Monday, January 24, 2011

Broadcasting B

Here are some B facts to brood over before commenting with your B sentences.

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
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).

8 comments:

The Lunds said...

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.

Brady said...

"Blimey!" blurted Brandon before brandishing bitter bananas.

Abe said...

Bare-backed baboons battled blind, burrowing behemoths beneath Babylon.

Abe said...

Before becoming Boston's brashest billionaire, Barry Bullfrog bet big by building bridges, buying banks, breaking budgets.

Sarah said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sarah said...

Bob's bassoon bellows beautiful ballads but Bertha's bagpipes bewilder bystanders.

Sherry said...

Barbaric beagles brought bananas by barge.

danlo said...

Being born barefoot, brazen babies benefit by brandishing booties.