Apparently U and J came into English in the sixteenth century as undifferentiated alternatives, and were split into separate letters about 1700. It was very su

Apparently U and J came into English in the sixteenth century as undifferentiated alternatives, and were split into separate letters about 1700. It was very surprising to me to learn that English picked up three new letters only three hundred years ago. Note that "w" is pronounced "double U" rather than "double V", which seems to not be an accident. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2696/why-is-the-alphabet-in-alphabetical-order http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2696/why-is-the-alp...