twenty-six in fifty-two

twenty-sixth and final letter of the Latin alphabet, twenty-first consonant
phonetic name: "voiced alveolar fricative"; press the tip of your tongue against your alveolar ridge and vibrate your tongue with your vocal chords while letting sound pass through your lips (n.b.: Z sound engages the vocal cords, S sound does not)
Egyptian hieroglyph was a lock or bolt
Phoenician letter was zayin
Z looked more like a capital I until it was adopted by Greeks as zeta, and the central stem was italicized (uppercase Ζ, lowercase ζ)
Roman censor Appius Claudius Caecus hated Z "because it resembles, in its expression, the teeth of a corpse… a death grin"
Z is regarded as superfluous in Shakespeare's King Lear: "Thou whoreson zed! Thou unnecessary letter!" (II.ii.)
Z is pronounced zed in Canada, zee in the USA, and was once pronounced izzard in the UK
many Canadian words substitute Z for S (i.e.: organize vs. organise)
the sound of Z (usually marked zzz…) evokes mechanical humming, insects flying, or sleeping/snoring
uppercase and lowercase characters have identical shape; diagonal line creates dynamic energy
Z is the most rarely used letter, making it seem exotic or special when employed. Also common in wacky words (bizarre, crazy, zany, etc.)
associated with lightning, slithering, firearms
as lightning it unites earth and sky
the word zigzag (origin unknown) describes the shape of Z and used two Zs (n.b.: Traditionally a "zig" points in the left direction [/]and a "zag" points right [\])
its sharpness invokes strength, force and vigour
Z also suggest speed (as in zip, zap and zoom!)
Z is the last letter of the alphabet, but is the first letter of the word zero, the first number
As the last letter of the alphabet, Z implies finality, but is also a sign of life and beginnings; the word zoo is derived from the Greek root for "living being" or "animal", and the name Zoë comes from the Greek word for "life"
in fortune telling, Z is a sign of bad luck (lightning, death)
in math, ℤ with a bolded or double stem is the symbol for a set of all integers
in graphs, the Z axis creates the third dimension of depth (in conjunction with X and Y)
in road signs, Z shape warns of skidding or sliding danger ahead
in electronics, Z is impedance
in currency, Z is the Zairean zaire
Z can stand for Zorro, fictional hero created by Johnston McCulley; the Z is to mark Zorro's speed and precision (Zorro means "fox" in Spanish)
Z can also abbreviate the unknown, atomic number, Zambia, zero and zone
Z can represent many Z shapes objects: Z bar, Z beam, Z twist
Z is sometimes used to draw attention to a pluralization, sometimes making reference to African American slang (i.e. boyz, girlz, etc.)
NATO phonetic alphabet: ZULU
"The sound vibration of the consonant 'W' means 'as above, so below, heaven and earth'." - Joseph E. Rael
"'Z' is lightning, the sign of God." - Victor Hugo

twenty-fifth letter of the Latin alphabet, twentieth consonant OR sixth vowel (considered a semivowel)
phonetic name: "palatal approximant"; press your tongue to your palate and slowly release with a voice
Egyptian hieroglyph was two sprouted reeds
Phoencian letter was waw (just like F)
adopted by Greeks as upsilon (uppercase Υ, lowercase υ)
Y and U were often used interchangeably in Rome; it also had a numeric value of 150
in Middle English, Y began replacing vowel I; also, Y sometimes stood in for "th" (i.e.: "the" became "eye" or "ye', as in "Ye Olde English Pub")
uppercase Y often looks like a small V placed on a small I
Y becomes IE at the end of a word becoming pluralized
the letter 'y' in spanish means "and"
associated with femininity, Pythagoras, receptiveness
the shape of Y is closely tied to that of a tree (in particular, the Tree of Samos, or Pythagoras' letter); Pythagoras used Y as a symbol of the divergent paths of virtue and vice
Y shape was popular in Renaissance writing and art because of its association with life's directions and choices
like V, Y recalls female genitalia, with an added stem that could represent the opposite sex. This is sometimes associated with balanced loving relationships, or, androgyny
Y also radiates a sense of happiness or rejoice as a human form with its arms raised in the air
in biology, men have XY sex chromosomes (women have XX)
in algebra, Y stands for an unknown variable, secondary to X
in graphs, the Y axis runs vertically
in printing, Y stands for yellow (CMYK)
in electricity, Y stands for admittance
Y with two horizontal strokes, ¥, is the currency sign for the Japanese yen
Y in a circle, Ⓨ, is a symbol for Japanese resale price maintenance
Y is a type of silver moth, as well as a type of gapeworm
Y can abbreviate the pronoun "you"
Y can abbreviate the affirmative "yes"
Y can also abbreviate year
Y sometimes refers to the YMCA
Y can represent many things that separate or connect: railroads, highways, guns, telescopes, ligaments, gutters, tubes
Y is the amino acid tyrosine
Y is the chemical symbol for yttrium (#39 on the periodic table), a silvery-metallic element found in most rare-earth minerals. It is used as a "phosphor" to produce the red colour in television screens.
Generation Y (also known as the Millennium Generation or Millennials) refers to the group of people born between 1980 and 2000. Generally, they have an increased use and familiarity with communications, media, and technology, and a neo-liberal approach to politics and economics.
phonetic sound, "why", asks for a reason
NATO phonetic alphabet: YANKEE
"The sound vibration of the consonant 'Y' means 'awareness'." - Joseph E. Rael
"'Y' is a tree, a fork, the confluence of two rivers, a stemmed glass, a man with arms upstretched." - Victor Hugo

twenty-fourth letter of the Latin alphabet, nineteenth consonant
phonetic name: "voiceless velar fricative"; place the back of your tongue against your velum release a pop of air while whistling some air between your teeth (n.b.: the sound is the combination of K and S; pronounced "kiss" without the letter i)
Phonecian was samekh, a fishbone or tree with branches (Hebrew word means "to prop" or "to support")
Egyptian hieroglyph was a small quail
adopted by Greeks as xi, pronounced chi (uppercase Ξ, lowercase ξ)
Romans often used X and S interchangeably; X is also the Roman numeral for 10
X is the least used letter at the beginning of English words; most words that start with X are derived from Ancient Greece (i.e.: xenon means foreign thing, which also correlates with Xs mysterious reputation)
X is the most printed one letter symbol
has various pronunciations (box, luxury, exact, xylophone, x-ray)
in type design, the two stems are often slightly above true centre ("optical centre"); sometimes, the top strokes do not connect perfectly with the bottom strokes
generally, X has the same form in both upper and lower case
associated with structure, crossing and danger
often bridges opposing ideas; can symbolize both life / death, physical / spiritual, break / protect (n.b.: can mean both yes and no)
X also oscillates between radiance (moving outward) and a vortex (moving inwards towards a focal point)
Latin word for peace, pax, is often symbolized with a monogram of P and X
X is consider solid and stable, with its 2 diagonal crossbeams - likened to a stool, chair or bench
in mathematics, X stands for multiplication (can also refer to magnification; 10x = 10 times the size)
in algebra, X stands for an unknown variable
in graphs, the X axis runs horizontally
in film, X rated is usually pornographic (XXX)
in sizes, X indicates extra (as in XL, XL, XXL)
in branding and trademarks, X is often used to attract attention (Xbox, X-Files, QuarkXPress)
in biology, women have XX and men have XY sex chromosomes
in beer brewing, Xs are used to indicate strength (X= weakest, XXX=strongest)
on road signs, X indicates a crossing and a risk of danger
on maps, X marks a point, destination or buried treasure (x mark the spot!)
on exams, X indicates an incorrect answer
in bowling, X is a strike
X is used as a visual device to block, cancel or annul
X abbreviates Christ in Xmas
X-rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation with a weak wavelength which can pass through matter
X-men are mutant superheroes
the X shape of a skull and crossbones can represent pirates, or poison
there is a superstition that crossing flatware at a table setting is bad luck
in elections, X is the valid mark used to indicate your vote on a ballot
X's are the basis for cross-stitching
X is the legal signature for an illiterate. In the Middle Ages, an illiterate person would sign an X and kiss it as a sign of promise/agreement. Xs became associated with kisses, hence the use of xoxoxo
X is slang for the hallucinogenic drug ecstacy
Generation X is loosely associated with the first generation of people born after the baby boom (1960-1980)
Malcolm X was an African American human rights activist; on his name: "The Muslim's 'X' symbolized the true African family name that he never could know. For me, my 'X' replaced the white slavemaster name of 'Little' which some blue-eyed devil named Little had imposed upon my paternal forebears."
Xe is the chemical symbol for xenon (#54 on the periodic table), an odourless, colourless, inert gas which, in a vacuum tube, produces a blue glow when excited by an electrical charge.
phonetic sound, ex, can refer to previous lovers/spouses (ex, exes)
NATO phonetic alphabet: X-RAY
"The sound vibration of the consonant 'X' means 'power, empowered'." - Joseph E. Rael
"'X' is crossed swords, a battle; who will win we do not know, so the philosophers made it the sign of destiny and the mathematicians the sign of the unknown." - Victor Hugo

The letter X,
for explicit sex,
for the ghastly formula,
the buried treasure,
the missing number,
the undisclosed measure,
the crossroads,
the crossed heart,
the cross,
the illiterate signature,
the inferior brand name,
the typing over mistakes,
the inebriate’s eyeball
or the fish-market fish’s,
the incorrect answer,
the life-saving stitch,
the whirlybird,
the anonymous grave,
the secret plan,
the forbidden planet,
the unknown man,
the number ten,
multiplication,
shorthand for Christ
and all that’s hidden,
the target the bomb misses,
the poison bottle,
the liquor keg,
the divorced, the former, the past,
and at the last,
at the end of the letter,
written, perhaps unbidden
kisses.

-Mark O’Donnell