A: Why is it the first letter?

I must confess, it took me a great deal of thought to decide what topic I should chose for my first ever A-Z challenge participation. Thanking Arlee Bird for initiating the A-Z Challenge four years ago. It's a challenge of sorts and has our brains working!

I started writing about my profession Advertising at first - Ad Mad World. But then, I reached the fifth paragraph only to realise that I might go on and on and then no one will visit my blog again and again ;)

So, I did you a favour (alright, it was for me actually!). I have kept it in Drafts and will touch it when I am completely lost for topics.


I was then thinking why is "A" the first letter? Maybe because my name starts with A - Anuradha. But then you will not agree. So I Googled around.


"A" is derived from the Ancient Greek letter Alpha. Well, some of us know this. But why the first letter?

So I researched and found the following reason on Wikipedia:
Alphabets often come to be associated with a standard ordering of their letters, which can then be used for purposes of collation – namely for the listing of words and other items in what is called alphabetical order.

The basic ordering of the Latin alphabet (ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ), which is derived from the Northwest Semitic "Abgad" order, is well established.

Too technical and not the perfect answer yet? I agree!

Finally I found this information that makes some sense: The alphabet came from the 'A´lef-Beyhth, the alphabet divised by ancient semites where first letter was A´lef the father our letter A!

Damn, the reasons are aplenty and none seems to be the perfect. No wonder "A" is called the indefinite article!

So since this particular post is becoming too educative (or boring?), let me use my own creativity here.

Why is A the first letter of the alphabet? And why not?
The reasons are one/all of the following:
  1. Because my name starts with "A".
  2. You wouldn't have liked it otherwise. Imagine learning or teaching: BACDEFGH...! See, I told you! 
  3. Seriously, how does "Blogging for Z-V Challenge" sound? Some things are just right the way they are first created, aren't they?
  4. How would you feel if they declare that from today "Z" will be the first letter? Imagine rearranging all that the world has arranged in alphabetical order: School roll numbers to start with, list of countries, places, animals, books... the dictionary!!! Phew!!! But if they did so at this very moment, we sure have reached the end of this A-Z challenge! Or we haven't???
I will leave it at this for now. Will keep filling in my ideas about it later on. Until then, I am trying to find out Why 1 is the first number? That sounds easy. But so did "A" when I started looking for it today!

See you blogging around and I hope you would visit again. After all, my blog starts with "A": As I look at Life!

PS: Just realised, may be "Alpha-betical order" is called so because Alpha-Beta... you get it, right?

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My A-Z Challenge Entries: A B C D...

9 comments:

  1. Haha..enjoyed the analysis of the alpha-bets! ;)

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    1. Thank you Corinne! And thanks for bringing this challenge to my notice :)

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  2. A very thought provoking post. I don't think there is any logical answer to your question but alpha-beta makes sense. A fun post. Dropping by from AtoZ

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    1. Thank you Suzy! You are the first new visitor to my blog via A to Z. Visiting your blog right away! See you around.

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  3. Anuradha, such an enjoyable post! But I really loved reason 1! And the rest of the whys too!

    :-)

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  4. ROFL!!!

    That was hilarious yet thought provoking!!

    Loved it :)

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  5. Loved the analysis of the Alphabet :)

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  6. A tough question to set yourself. Hope you find a good answer soon :)

    Look forward to the rest of your challenge posts!
    Damyanti @Daily(w)rite
    Co-host, A to Z Challenge 2013

    Twitter: @AprilA2Z
    #atozchallenge

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  7. I think A is the first letter because the first thing I say when asked a hard question is: "Ah ..." :-) Thanks for visiting my own blog. The ghost of Mark Twain tips his hat to you. Roland

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Thank you for dropping by my blog! If you have reached the comments section, I presume you have read and liked what I wrote. So please feel free to comment on how you liked this post.
Of course, there is a possibility that you found the first few lines too boring / incorrect / disagreeable that you decided to jump to the comments section and give me some piece of your mind. See, that is why I have moderation on comments ;)
Hehe! Hope to see you around.