English & its Clever Cheat

English & its Clever Cheat

Salt & pepper, fish & chips, bed & breakfast, hugs & kisses, R& D, H&M, Johnson & Johnson, all make sense, don’t they? And if you are reading it in the evening, Black & White can be the choice.

But what is this between you & me?

Got it? No? That little curly, arty squiggle! 

The stylish sign has a big name most of us are familiar with- the ampersand! And if English language is large-hearted enough to have a full day in its name, why can’t I use some words to sing its praises?

I am not fibbing. September 8 is officially the World Ampersand Day, if you please.

I used to think that perhaps a calligrapher sitting in his happy place, humming a little romantic song, invented this pretty fellow that reminded him of the musical notes. But no, I have so much to learn in this world.

Once again, it is the Romans who are said to have invented it. There are no records how it came into being, but either a stone-carver got tired of chiselling ‘et’ (Latin for ‘and’) into stone or marble and joined the two, or his sharp tool slipped, forming a smooth stroke which became an &. 

So, for more than two thousand years now, the quirky icon has survived. It occupies a pride of place on letter heads, signboards, company names, wedding invites, and some book titles (Eats, Shoots & Leaves). On the keyboard, its address now is shift+7, far above the commas, full stop, colons et al.

Let me put it clearly. The ampersand is neither a letter, nor a symbol, although it used to be the 27^th letter in the English alphabet till the 1800s. Reciting the alphabet, they said ‘X Y Z and per se’ and which slowly led to the character getting the name ampersand and was exiled from the alphabet, which came to having 26 letters.

Thus, it is a logogram, meaning a sign or character representing a word or phrase exactly like those used in shorthand.

Once you give an ampersand a seat in a sentence, it seems to give the structure a straight back. It has no mystery; it seems to mean business when it cleanly replaces ‘and’.

Hollywood, you would notice, has wisely given it a place of honour in several names, such as Fast & Furious, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Thelma & Louise, Angels & Demons, Secrets & Lies and of course, the classic Pride & Prejudice.

When it comes to film credits, the Writers Guild of America has a policy that collaboration between writers allows the use of & while ‘and’ is used if the writers wrote the story at different times. One prime example is Thor (2011). Ashley Edward Miller & Zack Stentz wrote the screenplay together for the blockbuster. However, J Michael Straczynski and Mark Protosevich worked on the story at different points.

So, one wants to use this little curvy beauty with caution. Too much of anything and it ruins the effect. Ampersand adds flair, is helpful in design but in formal writing e.g., professional reports, academic papers, business correspondence, you want to be taken seriously with ‘and’. Much like coriander leaves (cilantro). You want a small amount to enhance the taste and look of the dish, not a cupful, unless you are a member of the bovine family and chew on greens.

The objective is clear. The ampersand is about joining with a flair. No wonder then, many organisations abroad are ‘celebrating’ this day with community events.

World Ampersand Day should not just be about joining words. It’s about joining people, too. Think of it as a day for tiny experiments in kindness - a smile, a kind word, even a cheerful Pehle aap (you first) at the grocery shop, it all matters. Use this day to brighten someone’s world: check in on someone who lives alone, help a colleague whose wi-fi has ditched him, hold the elevator door for your sulky neighbour instead of pretending you didn’t see, compliment for the budding footballer for that surprise goal, do a household chore, not yours, without being asked. None of these take much time and effort, but they might mean more than we have imagined. After all, an ampersand doesn’t just save space; it creates connection.

So, on Monday, if you spot an ampersand on a signboard, smile back at it. It is only reminding us to play nicely together.

                                                                                                 - Anupama S Mani