The other evening Wheel of Fortune came on TV and I watched it for a few minutes. It’s a word guessing game and I suspect that the people that play it and are good at it, are knowledgeable of the frequency in which letters are used in the English language. It always amazes me that sometimes some of the players don’t seem to have a clue. The other night a three letter word had a “T” and an “H” showing and the contestant said they’d like to buy a vowel — they bought an “E.” Now if it’s a three letter word “TH(blank)” — you don’t need to spend your money buying a vowel. The word is “THE!” Guaranteed.
Well anyhow I decided to do some extensive research as to what letters occur most frequently in our language, and I came up with something surprising, or maybe not so surprising….
The most commonly used letter in the English language is “e.” The most common consonant is “t,” and the most common second letter in a word is “h.” Now for the surprising, or maybe not surprising part — the most common popular word in the English language is “the.”
I think I’m ready to apply for that game show…. and I won’t be wasting my money to buy a vowel if two of the three letters in a word are T and H.
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