You realize, of course, that the English alphabet actually did used to have 27 letters. In the 1800s, the ampersand (“&”) was the 27th letter. We still have the ampersand, but it’s no longer considered part of the alphabet.
There was actually both the thorn (þ) and the wynn (ƿ) in Old English, but the thorn was replaced by the Y from Latin (which is why we have phrases like “ye olde tavern”, because the Y was originally pronounced “th”, just like the thorn was), and the wynn was replaced by the W (originally literally UU, hence the name “double U”). There was also the ing (ŋ), which simply became “ing” and was no longer a part of the alphabet at all. And there were a couple of combined vowels, the oedil (œ) and the æsc (æ), that were simply separated into “oe” and “ae”.
Oops, I was about to say something really political about when they come back, they find out a certain someone who lost a certain election won it instead, but let’s not go there. Thank you, Mr. Bradbury.
Tip is planning to train in the past. Two hundred some hours go fast. Some responsible person so things will not worsen, makes training a wonderful blast.
You know what they say about the butterfly effect.
Ask Homer about his time travel experience, and Evil Ned Flanders.
They come back, and all the signage reads like Dave Davenport doing mazes with no cigarettes in his system… see http://narbonic.com/comic/january-1-6-2001/ for details!
GURPS… Borgnine?
Nine… of Borg?
http://narbonic.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/010106.jpg , then…
What are you talking about? Dave never smoked.
This was BEFORE Dave never smoked!
Is that thunder I hear?
Ah no, that’s just the jetpack.
For the rest of the comic, at least one letter of the alphabet will no longer exist. Calling it now.
Don’t be silly. How could civilization continue without all 27 letters in the English alphabet? Especially “∆”?
You realize, of course, that the English alphabet actually did used to have 27 letters. In the 1800s, the ampersand (“&”) was the 27th letter. We still have the ampersand, but it’s no longer considered part of the alphabet.
There’s also thorn, Þ, though it didn’t survive the transition from Middle English to Early Modern English.
I did not know that, awgiedawgie. Nor had I ever heard of thorn, Zap. I was merely being facetious.
I love this forum! I’m always learning new things. Thanks!
There’s the German Scharfs S, sharp S, ß. I pasted it in, Lord knows what it’ll look like when I post.
There was actually both the thorn (þ) and the wynn (ƿ) in Old English, but the thorn was replaced by the Y from Latin (which is why we have phrases like “ye olde tavern”, because the Y was originally pronounced “th”, just like the thorn was), and the wynn was replaced by the W (originally literally UU, hence the name “double U”). There was also the ing (ŋ), which simply became “ing” and was no longer a part of the alphabet at all. And there were a couple of combined vowels, the oedil (œ) and the æsc (æ), that were simply separated into “oe” and “ae”.
Some of us older-school writers over here in the UK still use œ and æ when we can.
Not counting the two s’s, as in “In Congrefs Affembled”, sorta…
Oops, I was about to say something really political about when they come back, they find out a certain someone who lost a certain election won it instead, but let’s not go there. Thank you, Mr. Bradbury.
Let’s go Bradbury!!
I was wondering if that was a “A Sound of Thunder” reference.
Tip wrangles the *best* dates!
Most people who use a time machine do so in order to travel to other dates.
Tip uses a time machine to date people at other dates.
It totally is.
It took me an entire night’s sleep to realize the last panel was set in the Triassic and not last week in Kansas airspace. This is a good comic.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. In this universe, your first instinct may very well be correct, Bradbury references aside.
Me Yesterday: 250 hours is about 10 days nonstop, or a month if they’re only flying 9:00 to 5:00, so just go back a month and…
Me Today: Oh right, this is Skin Horse
Tip is planning to train in the past. Two hundred some hours go fast. Some responsible person so things will not worsen, makes training a wonderful blast.
Fortunately, the time police of the _27th_ century will quietly step in and fix the damage after they leave.
Or the Bureau of Temporal Anomalies.
Flying platforms ARE cool. But they don’t come with windscreens…