Mrs. Kirsch

@KirschHistory

Geography, Civics&Econ, & World History Teacher, NEA Foundation Global Learning Fellow Alumni, VEA/NEA Award for Teaching Excellence, and Sully's mom.

Fredericksburg, VA

Joined February 2011

657 Following

445 Followers

3.4K Posts

KirschHistory retweeted

The Cultural Tutor

about 3 years ago

What the hell is an ampersand and why does it look like that?! The first thing you need to know is that "&" used to be the 27th letter of the alphabet... But there are three parts to this story. And the first begins over two thousand years ago in Ancient Rome with a single word: et. It's the Latin for "and". At some point Roman scribes started combining the two letters of et into a single symbol, which was the ancestor of our modern &. The earliest example of the "et" symbol is actually from graffiti in Pompeii. In any case, it did not disappear with the fall of the Roman Empire. Latin survived as the language of the Catholic Church and of scholarship in Medieval Europe. Scribes during the Dark Ages continued to use the & symbol. It evolved down the centuries, in places losing any semblance of the letters e and t whatsoever. The second part of the story is that during the 18th and 19th centuries, as education and the teaching of literacy spread, & was added to the end of the alphabet as a sort of 27th letter. On a related note, although "et cetera" is now usually just abbreviated as etc., for a long time it was instead abbreviated as "&c". The & was for et and the c for cetera. The third and final part of the story is about how the alphabet was taught to children — and how it was read out loud. As this 1822 Glossary of Words and Phrases explains, it had been normal during the Renaissance, when speaking the alphabet, to add "per se" before any letter which could also be a word on its own — "per se" means "by itself" in Latin. Take the letter A, which can also be a word of its own. When reading out the alphabet people would say "A, per se A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, per se I..." and so on. O was also considered a word of its own. Which means, when people got to the end of the alphabet, with & being the 27th letter, they would say: "S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, and per se &." When this old way of reading the alphabet was taught to children in the 18th century and they were reciting it aloud, they would garble "and per se " into what eventually became... ampersand. A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English from 1905 relates some of the many other pronunciations school children apparently came up with: "Ampersand. The sign &; ampersand. Variants: Ann Passy Ann; anpasty; andpassy; anparse; apersie; per-se; ampassy; am-passy-ana; ampene-and; ampus-and; ampsyand; ampazad; amsiam; ampus-end; apperse-and; empersiand; amperzed; and zumzy-zan." Well, of all the many pronunciations that might have stuck, it was "ampersand" which came to be accepted and is now the official name for &... rather than zumzy-zan. So, from hurried Roman scribes to unruly school children, that's where "&" came from.

culturaltutor's tweet photo. What the hell is an ampersand and why does it look like that?!

The first thing you need to know is that "&" used to be the 27th letter of the alphabet...

But there are three parts to this story. And the first begins over two thousand years ago in Ancient Rome with a single word: et. It's the Latin for "and". At some point Roman scribes started combining the two letters of et into a single symbol, which was the ancestor of our modern &.

The earliest example of the "et" symbol is actually from graffiti in Pompeii. In any case, it did not disappear with the fall of the Roman Empire.

Latin survived as the language of the Catholic Church and of scholarship in Medieval Europe. Scribes during the Dark Ages continued to use the & symbol. It evolved down the centuries, in places losing any semblance of the letters e and t whatsoever.

The second part of the story is that during the 18th and 19th centuries, as education and the teaching of literacy spread, & was added to the end of the alphabet as a sort of 27th letter.

On a related note, although "et cetera" is now usually just abbreviated as etc., for a long time it was instead abbreviated as "&c". The & was for et and the c for cetera.

The third and final part of the story is about how the alphabet was taught to children — and how it was read out loud.

As this 1822 Glossary of Words and Phrases explains, it had been normal during the Renaissance, when speaking the alphabet, to add "per se" before any letter which could also be a word on its own — "per se" means "by itself" in Latin.

Take the letter A, which can also be a word of its own. When reading out the alphabet people would say "A, per se A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, per se I..." and so on. O was also considered a word of its own.

Which means, when people got to the end of the alphabet, with & being the 27th letter, they would say: "S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, and per se &."

When this old way of reading the alphabet was taught to children in the 18th century and they were reciting it aloud, they would garble "and per se " into what eventually became... ampersand.

A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English from 1905 relates some of the many other pronunciations school children apparently came up with:

"Ampersand. The sign &; ampersand. Variants: Ann Passy Ann; anpasty; andpassy; anparse; apersie; per-se; ampassy; am-passy-ana; ampene-and; ampus-and; ampsyand; ampazad; amsiam; ampus-end; apperse-and; empersiand; amperzed; and zumzy-zan."

Well, of all the many pronunciations that might have stuck, it was "ampersand" which came to be accepted and is now the official name for &... rather than zumzy-zan. So, from hurried Roman scribes to unruly school children, that's where "&" came from.

culturaltutor's tweet photo. What the hell is an ampersand and why does it look like that?!

The first thing you need to know is that "&" used to be the 27th letter of the alphabet...

But there are three parts to this story. And the first begins over two thousand years ago in Ancient Rome with a single word: et. It's the Latin for "and". At some point Roman scribes started combining the two letters of et into a single symbol, which was the ancestor of our modern &.

The earliest example of the "et" symbol is actually from graffiti in Pompeii. In any case, it did not disappear with the fall of the Roman Empire.

Latin survived as the language of the Catholic Church and of scholarship in Medieval Europe. Scribes during the Dark Ages continued to use the & symbol. It evolved down the centuries, in places losing any semblance of the letters e and t whatsoever.

The second part of the story is that during the 18th and 19th centuries, as education and the teaching of literacy spread, & was added to the end of the alphabet as a sort of 27th letter.

On a related note, although "et cetera" is now usually just abbreviated as etc., for a long time it was instead abbreviated as "&c". The & was for et and the c for cetera.

The third and final part of the story is about how the alphabet was taught to children — and how it was read out loud.

As this 1822 Glossary of Words and Phrases explains, it had been normal during the Renaissance, when speaking the alphabet, to add "per se" before any letter which could also be a word on its own — "per se" means "by itself" in Latin.

Take the letter A, which can also be a word of its own. When reading out the alphabet people would say "A, per se A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, per se I..." and so on. O was also considered a word of its own.

Which means, when people got to the end of the alphabet, with & being the 27th letter, they would say: "S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, and per se &."

When this old way of reading the alphabet was taught to children in the 18th century and they were reciting it aloud, they would garble "and per se " into what eventually became... ampersand.

A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English from 1905 relates some of the many other pronunciations school children apparently came up with:

"Ampersand. The sign &; ampersand. Variants: Ann Passy Ann; anpasty; andpassy; anparse; apersie; per-se; ampassy; am-passy-ana; ampene-and; ampus-and; ampsyand; ampazad; amsiam; ampus-end; apperse-and; empersiand; amperzed; and zumzy-zan."

Well, of all the many pronunciations that might have stuck, it was "ampersand" which came to be accepted and is now the official name for &... rather than zumzy-zan. So, from hurried Roman scribes to unruly school children, that's where "&" came from.

culturaltutor's tweet photo. What the hell is an ampersand and why does it look like that?!

The first thing you need to know is that "&" used to be the 27th letter of the alphabet...

But there are three parts to this story. And the first begins over two thousand years ago in Ancient Rome with a single word: et. It's the Latin for "and". At some point Roman scribes started combining the two letters of et into a single symbol, which was the ancestor of our modern &.

The earliest example of the "et" symbol is actually from graffiti in Pompeii. In any case, it did not disappear with the fall of the Roman Empire.

Latin survived as the language of the Catholic Church and of scholarship in Medieval Europe. Scribes during the Dark Ages continued to use the & symbol. It evolved down the centuries, in places losing any semblance of the letters e and t whatsoever.

The second part of the story is that during the 18th and 19th centuries, as education and the teaching of literacy spread, & was added to the end of the alphabet as a sort of 27th letter.

On a related note, although "et cetera" is now usually just abbreviated as etc., for a long time it was instead abbreviated as "&c". The & was for et and the c for cetera.

The third and final part of the story is about how the alphabet was taught to children — and how it was read out loud.

As this 1822 Glossary of Words and Phrases explains, it had been normal during the Renaissance, when speaking the alphabet, to add "per se" before any letter which could also be a word on its own — "per se" means "by itself" in Latin.

Take the letter A, which can also be a word of its own. When reading out the alphabet people would say "A, per se A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, per se I..." and so on. O was also considered a word of its own.

Which means, when people got to the end of the alphabet, with & being the 27th letter, they would say: "S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, and per se &."

When this old way of reading the alphabet was taught to children in the 18th century and they were reciting it aloud, they would garble "and per se " into what eventually became... ampersand.

A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English from 1905 relates some of the many other pronunciations school children apparently came up with:

"Ampersand. The sign &; ampersand. Variants: Ann Passy Ann; anpasty; andpassy; anparse; apersie; per-se; ampassy; am-passy-ana; ampene-and; ampus-and; ampsyand; ampazad; amsiam; ampus-end; apperse-and; empersiand; amperzed; and zumzy-zan."

Well, of all the many pronunciations that might have stuck, it was "ampersand" which came to be accepted and is now the official name for &... rather than zumzy-zan. So, from hurried Roman scribes to unruly school children, that's where "&" came from.

culturaltutor's tweet photo. What the hell is an ampersand and why does it look like that?!

The first thing you need to know is that "&" used to be the 27th letter of the alphabet...

But there are three parts to this story. And the first begins over two thousand years ago in Ancient Rome with a single word: et. It's the Latin for "and". At some point Roman scribes started combining the two letters of et into a single symbol, which was the ancestor of our modern &.

The earliest example of the "et" symbol is actually from graffiti in Pompeii. In any case, it did not disappear with the fall of the Roman Empire.

Latin survived as the language of the Catholic Church and of scholarship in Medieval Europe. Scribes during the Dark Ages continued to use the & symbol. It evolved down the centuries, in places losing any semblance of the letters e and t whatsoever.

The second part of the story is that during the 18th and 19th centuries, as education and the teaching of literacy spread, & was added to the end of the alphabet as a sort of 27th letter.

On a related note, although "et cetera" is now usually just abbreviated as etc., for a long time it was instead abbreviated as "&c". The & was for et and the c for cetera.

The third and final part of the story is about how the alphabet was taught to children — and how it was read out loud.

As this 1822 Glossary of Words and Phrases explains, it had been normal during the Renaissance, when speaking the alphabet, to add "per se" before any letter which could also be a word on its own — "per se" means "by itself" in Latin.

Take the letter A, which can also be a word of its own. When reading out the alphabet people would say "A, per se A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, per se I..." and so on. O was also considered a word of its own.

Which means, when people got to the end of the alphabet, with & being the 27th letter, they would say: "S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, and per se &."

When this old way of reading the alphabet was taught to children in the 18th century and they were reciting it aloud, they would garble "and per se " into what eventually became... ampersand.

A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English from 1905 relates some of the many other pronunciations school children apparently came up with:

"Ampersand. The sign &; ampersand. Variants: Ann Passy Ann; anpasty; andpassy; anparse; apersie; per-se; ampassy; am-passy-ana; ampene-and; ampus-and; ampsyand; ampazad; amsiam; ampus-end; apperse-and; empersiand; amperzed; and zumzy-zan."

Well, of all the many pronunciations that might have stuck, it was "ampersand" which came to be accepted and is now the official name for &... rather than zumzy-zan. So, from hurried Roman scribes to unruly school children, that's where "&" came from.

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Mrs. Kirsch @KirschHistory

over 3 years ago

After exploring economic geography & resources in class & visiting @ShepherdSpring & the @Heifer global village on an over night field trip, students came back to class to chose a #microloan to support a business! You can help too! https://t.co/IcdxmfOA3s @Kiva @FXBGAcademy

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Mrs. Kirsch @KirschHistory

over 3 years ago

Just saying… I’d invest in a business venture with my Civics&Econ1 class! Awesome brainstorming in action with these students. Can’t wait to see their profit margins on our dessert project! 🧁 @FXBGAcademy #famiddleschool

KirschHistory's tweet photo. Just saying… I’d invest in a business venture with my Civics&Econ1 class! Awesome brainstorming in action with these students. Can’t wait to see their profit margins on our dessert project! 🧁 @FXBGAcademy #famiddleschool https://t.co/uwLz2sTaMS

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KirschHistory retweeted

Conscious Content

over 3 years ago

Beware of the anger of the mouth. Master your words.

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Who to follow

8th Grade U.S. History Teacher, Happenin’ Histories Creator, Founding Forward Ambassador, Marshall Party of 6 Leader, Toy Aussie Lover

Susan Gorman-Pullin

U.S History Teacher. Devoted to sharing engaging & creative Social Studies Resources, Twin mom, Growth Mindset

Mrs. Kirsch @KirschHistory

over 3 years ago

@LakotaMan1 How is that even legal today?

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Mrs. Kirsch @KirschHistory

over 3 years ago

The @NEAFoundation Global Learning Fellowship is a year-long, fully-funded, professional development opportunity with a ten-day international field study. Sound exciting? Start the easy-to-complete application today. #NEAFGlobal https://t.co/U3z2QJFUK4

KirschHistory's tweet photo. The @NEAFoundation Global Learning Fellowship is a year-long, fully-funded, professional development opportunity with a ten-day international field study. Sound exciting? Start the easy-to-complete application today. #NEAFGlobal https://t.co/U3z2QJFUK4 https://t.co/f1tzVRBPQ6

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KirschHistory retweeted

over 3 years ago

If children only sharpen their brains at school, there’s no guarantee they won’t go on to make trouble. To balance their keen brains, they need a warm heart. The more compassionate they learn to be, the more useful members of society they’re likely to become.

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Mrs. Kirsch @KirschHistory

over 3 years ago

@theDRAMAgoat1 No pledge. I’m middle school. Elementary school does yes. High school every year the kids discuss it and then vote to say it or not. I have a flag in my class, but I teach US Civics and Geography. I also have flags of all the countries I have traveled too.

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Mrs. Kirsch @KirschHistory

over 3 years ago

@FixingEducation Happiest mom and son at the same school! 💚💙

KirschHistory's tweet photo. @FixingEducation Happiest mom and son at the same school! 💚💙 https://t.co/q0CgiUQE2W

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KirschHistory retweeted

teachpeaceofmind @peaceofmindorg

almost 4 years ago

Black Friday is a good time for a mindful moment (or two). Here's a lovely practice to try whether you are standing in line at your favorite store or staying out of the fray: Peaceful Place. Find more practices at https://t.co/hgpR447KTx

peaceofmindorg's tweet photo. Black Friday is a good time for a mindful moment (or two). Here's a lovely practice to try whether you are standing in line at your favorite store or staying out of the fray: Peaceful Place. Find more practices at https://t.co/hgpR447KTx https://t.co/9MSrxK5S9J

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Mrs. Kirsch @KirschHistory

almost 4 years ago

@burstofbeaden Tonight he read the whole book himself and finally guessed the ending. #6yearscoming

KirschHistory's tweet photo. @burstofbeaden Tonight he read the whole book himself and finally guessed the ending. #6yearscoming https://t.co/2Kq1TisuVQ

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Mrs. Kirsch @KirschHistory

almost 4 years ago

Received a #postcrossing postcard from Belarus: https://t.co/Zl8QLib2TY

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Mrs. Kirsch @KirschHistory

almost 4 years ago

@periodicprez Yes! 👏🏻 Can’t wait for this to come out. Have had a hard time finding a good one. I used to have a CSPAN one, but haven’t seen the new 2020 yet.

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Mrs. Kirsch @KirschHistory

almost 4 years ago

Not only did our simulation reflect directly on all we have learned in Geography class, but the special bonding that occurs between students and their teachers is a precious experience! @Heifer @FXBGAcademy #famiddleschool 💙🌍💚

Fredericksburg Academy @FXBGAcademy

almost 4 years ago

FA’s seventh grade has been gaining global perspective the past two days at the @Heifer Global Village by experiencing life in a developing nation. This amazing place opens hearts and minds to the causes and effects of hunger and poverty - it’s an honor to visit! #FAMiddleSchool

FXBGAcademy's tweet photo. FA’s seventh grade has been gaining global perspective the past two days at the @Heifer Global Village by experiencing life in a developing nation. This amazing place opens hearts and minds to the causes and effects of hunger and poverty - it’s an honor to visit! #FAMiddleSchool https://t.co/OAXwAzr8Ff

FXBGAcademy's tweet photo. FA’s seventh grade has been gaining global perspective the past two days at the @Heifer Global Village by experiencing life in a developing nation. This amazing place opens hearts and minds to the causes and effects of hunger and poverty - it’s an honor to visit! #FAMiddleSchool https://t.co/OAXwAzr8Ff

FXBGAcademy's tweet photo. FA’s seventh grade has been gaining global perspective the past two days at the @Heifer Global Village by experiencing life in a developing nation. This amazing place opens hearts and minds to the causes and effects of hunger and poverty - it’s an honor to visit! #FAMiddleSchool https://t.co/OAXwAzr8Ff

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Mrs. Kirsch @KirschHistory

almost 4 years ago

You’d be surprised (or maybe you wouldn’t) by how awesome our 7th graders thoughts and opinions were today in Civics Class. What great thoughts and debate! #famiddleschool @FXBGAcademy

KirschHistory's tweet photo. You’d be surprised (or maybe you wouldn’t) by how awesome our 7th graders thoughts and opinions were today in Civics Class. What great thoughts and debate! #famiddleschool @FXBGAcademy https://t.co/YQrkp3J4eE

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KirschHistory retweeted

How Things Are Manufactured

almost 4 years ago

Keep zooming 🤩

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Mrs. Kirsch @KirschHistory

almost 4 years ago

Needed to slow one section down a smidge so we played Geography BINGO today for a few rounds. Always a fan favorite in 6th grade. 🌎

KirschHistory's tweet photo. Needed to slow one section down a smidge so we played Geography BINGO today for a few rounds. Always a fan favorite in 6th grade. 🌎 https://t.co/4OPqIMwTR9

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Mrs. Kirsch @KirschHistory

almost 4 years ago

Writing a #postcrossing postcard to India on https://t.co/nnnwr0oQ4h

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Mrs. Kirsch @KirschHistory

almost 4 years ago

Received a #postcrossing postcard from Finland: https://t.co/pRTf5vgAOF

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Mrs. Kirsch @KirschHistory

almost 4 years ago

Received a #postcrossing postcard from Germany: https://t.co/sb3tjFmdHI

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