User:Tysto/Æþöñéß



Æþöñéß [pronounced æ-ÞÖ-ñéß] is the name of Tysto's imaginary first-born child, dreamed up during a discussion of whether or not letters like ß and þ should be included in Wikipedia article titles and text. Tysto's point was that these letters are foreign characters and not English characters because they are not found in the English alphabet. But certain internationalists regard all characters in the Latin-1 character set to be valid characters for English Wikipedia even tho:


 * Such letters do not appear in English publications, dictionaries, or keyboards. Every English-language newspaper and magazine would render Strauß as Strauss.
 * The English alphabet is conveniently defined in the alphabet song (ABCD EFG HIJK LMNOP QRS TUV WX Y and Z...). No ß. No Þ.
 * ß is German letter, but it is not even used in all forms of German. Swiss German does not use it. Why use it in English Wikipedia?
 * Ð and Þ are ancient Scandiavian letters found today primarily in Icelandic. Icelandic is a notoriously protectivist language which strictly forbids the use of foreign letters or words itself.