File under, “Q, A Barrel Full of”: In English spelling, U does not have to follow Q.
One of my favorite words is queue. This word is the quintessential expression of an English spelling rule so dominant we’ll call a dominatrix rule: “ U must follow Qj Slave!” The letter Q in queue is obediently followed by two IT s, though not in close proximity lest they handcuff themselves to each other and become W.
The Q- U spelling rule is so stringent that even looking hard, you find few exceptions. What’s more, those you do find are archaisms, borrowings from other languages, or proper names. Sure, fly Qantas. 4 Visit lovely Iraq. Email me a nasty letter from your Compaq.
But my favorite word that does not exhibit the Q- U combination is one that’s accepted by the ultimate word authority—not by the Oxford English Dictionary, not by the French Academie Francais, which doesn’t control English but very likely would like to, but by The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary.
The word is qoph. Letters in the Phoenician alphabet denoted animals and everyday things; for instance, aleph (“ox”), mem (“water”) and zayin (“weapon”). Qoph represented “monkey” (and
6) V was used (vsed) to begin words, and U internally, leading to the Latin word uva being written vua, as pointed out by Ron Roster.
64 I’m shocked that this airline hasn’t come out with a campaign saying, “We respect our customers so much, we changed our name, and put U in Quantas." (On the other hand, I’m a smart-aleck language observer and not a copywriter, which is why other folks get the big writing bucks. Revise: which is why other folks get any bucks at all.)
Everything You Know About English Is Wrong
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not monquey). Qoph the monkey (Creationist-inclined folks, avert your eyes for a second) evolved from its Phoenician origins through Greek and Latin and etc. and etc. into the modern entity it is today: standing tall, and alone, as . . . our letter Q.