Wrigley’s Doublemint Gum

We probably all remember the words to this advertisment:

Double your pleasure / Double your fun / with Doublemint, Doublemint, Doublemint gum.

Well, it’s being recited here because I want to discuss the letter W.

Double U

In spite of the fact that it is really a ‘double V’ (even the French say double vé), we call the letter ‘double u’. Have you ever wondered why?

Was it because of cursive writing?

Or is this again just a direct transliteration of the Greek letter omega, (OMG) in lower case?

Whatever the reason, it is a very useful letter in the English alphabet.

W5

In Canada we have a weekly news program on CTV that asks the “W” questions:

They could have also included “How?” since it has a W, too.

WoW!

Is it too much to have two W’s in one three-letter word? The word ‘wow’ gives us a picture of an open mouth with two open hands bracketing it, as if it’s shouting out the word, like a megaphone. There’s many a time where that’s about all anyone can say…

(W)rite or (W)rong

The silent nature of the letter ‘w’ lets it be present but without a sound, except in breathing.

ΙΑΩ (Iota Alpha Omega) is a case in point: Father-Son-Holy Spirit is an inherent concept like breathing. It has always been there in the Trinity, but our usual thinking process wants to separate it into three components: in-breath, hold, out-breath. In truth, you cannot have any one part without the other two. But we insist on separation, don’t we?

Conclusion

The next time you order a ‘double-double’ at Tim Horton’s think about what you’re really saying: we all just want to have fun.