Language: A Letter Long Since Lost

I like reading a lot of books and other texts about history. One interesting side effect of reading a lot of history is that I see snippets of old manuscripts. Usually short quotations and excerpts used to show how times once were. If you see enough of these old snippets of English you realize that we don't seem to use the same alphabet we once did.

One seemingly odd part of the English language was the long S. That slender letter that looks like a normal s that has been stretched vertically. In case you wish to use the long S Andrew West's BabelStone has a detailed post on The Rules for Long S. If knowing when to use it isn't enough he also has The Long and the Short of the Letter S. And if that isn't enough he also has R Rotunda part 1 and part 2.

If that isn't enough it turns out all of BabelStone is a true wonder of the Longer Web. Posts are infrequent but then they'd have to be. They are so thorough and comprehensive that it's hard to imagine the amount of work and effort that goes into each one. The most recent post is part 4 of a series on the ancient Chinese game of Liubo.

From the proper usage of long lost letters to information about a long lost board game. What's not to like? Didn't I say I like to read about history?