21 9 / 2011
"[It] was common practice to add at the end of the alphabet the “&” sign as the 27th letter, pronounced and. Thus, the recitation of the alphabet would end in: “X, Y, Z and per se and”. This last phrase was routinely slurred to “ampersand” and the term crept into common English usage by around 1837."
I found myself reading up on ampersands on Wikipedia, mainly trying to figure out where or how I picked up the habit of incorrectly pronouncing it with an “h” (am-pher-sand). No answer yet, but I found this bit on the etymology fascinating.
(Source: Wikipedia)
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