User:Matty.007/sandbox/Ћ

Mathis' decision to abbreviate 'the' as Ћ came from the fact that the word 'the,' despite being the most used word in the English language (British English),{{cite web | url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/the-oec-facts-about-the-language | title=The OEC: Facts about the language | publisher=Oxford Dictionaries | accessdate=11 July 2013}} and indeed, in American English,{{cite web | url=http://corpus2.byu.edu/coca/100k_data.asp?query=1 | title=Word frequency data | publisher=Corpus of Contemporary American English | accessdate=11 July 2013}}, had no symbol, unlike 'and' (which has the ampersand), which Mathis cited as being the fifth most used letter in the English language, claiming that it is in 80% of all paragraphs.{{cite web | url=http://www.siliconrepublic.com/comms/item/33428-one-mans-crusade-to-create/ | title=One man’s crusade to create a symbol for ‘The’ | publisher=Silicon Republic | date=11 July 2013 | accessdate=11 July 2013 | author=Kennedy, John}} Mathis said that he created 40 symbols, before deciding on Ћ, as "it is the only one of them that is instantly recognizable as the word 'the'.

Mathis' symbol for 'the' is the same as the Serbian Cyrillic letter Ћ (Tshe), but Mathis says that this was a co-incidence, and that he only discovered Tshe part of the way through his design process.{{cite web | url=http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/what-th-one-mans-quest-for-a-symbol-solution-20130705-2pgd8.html | title=What Th? One man's quest for a symbol solution | publisher=The Age | date=5 July 2013 | accessdate=11 July 2013 | author=Quinn, Karl}}

Mathis has developed a mobile app which features a keyboard that contains Ћ.{{cite web | url=http://www.itv.com/news/2013-07-10/restaurateur-invents-new-symbol-for-the-word-the/ | title=Restaurateur invents new symbol for the word 'the' | publisher=ITV News | date=10 July 2013 | accessdate=11 July 2013}}{{cite web | url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/facts-and-arguments/talking-points-not-the-beyonces-po-boys-drawing-big-macs/article13101381/ | title=The New The | publisher=The Globe and Mail | date=9 July 2013 | accessdate=11 July 2013}}{{cite web | url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/10168804/New-letter-for-The--invented.html | title=New letter for 'The' - Ћ - invented | publisher=The Telegraph | date=9 July 2013 | accessdate=11 July 2013 | author=Alexander, Harriet}}{{cite web | url=http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/07/10/why-the-deserves-a-symbol-all-its-own/ | title=Why The Deserves a Symbol All Of Its Own | publisher=Time | date=11 July 2013 | accessdate=11 July 2013 | author=Subramanian, Courtney}} It is available on Google Play, but has attracted little interest.{{cite web | url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.symbolapp.top15&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5zeW1ib2xhcHAudG9wMTUiXQ.. | title=THE Keyboard Top 15 | publisher=Google Play | accessdate=11 July 2013}}

Mathis promotes the symbol with texting and Twitter in mind. He said "The main functionality of this [the symbol] is in the texting space".

Mathis has been criticized for claiming to create a letter which is too similar, indeed, identical to Tshe, a letter in the Serbian alphabet. He has also been criticized for ignoring the existing Middle English symbol þͤ for 'the' (a thorn with a superscript), and its Early Modern form yͤ (as in Ye Olde).{{cite web | url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/10171615/Paul-Mathiss-new-letter-The-the-or-not-the-the-that-is-the-question.html | title=Paul Mathis's new letter: The the or not the the, that is the question | publisher=The Telegraph | date=10 July 2013 | accessdate=11 July 2013 | author=Howse, Christopher}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://thethe.co/ Official Website]
• [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KZRaxXC63RI Video Promoting the app]

:Category:Graphemes