What’s Your Favorite Letter?

This is barely worthy of a blog post. I’m just saying that up front. I’m not even sure how I ended up thinking about this last night. It was one of those falling asleep things where you know what you’re thinking is going to be the best blog post ever, but then in the morning (SHOCKED that you’ve even remembered it), it’s sort of lame. Yet, I type on.

I love P. It’s punchy and demands attention, but it’s not as harsh as T or K. It’s at the front of your lips ready to go, yet it’s not the most popular kid in school. It stands tall, but has some curve. You can draw a heart in it if you’re doodling your boyfriend’s last name with your first name. It plays well with others, both consonants and vowels alike. Also, if try to string a bunch of p-words together in a sentence like that one time where Catherine and I made every word in our conversation use a p-word, you will crack up.

Now take the word poop for example. It’s kind of the perfect P word. It’s allllllllllllmost an onomatopoeia (a word that is spelled like it sounds), but it’s not. Or is it? I don’t think it is. I think it’s that the order of the letters mimics the action. Poop. It can be a verb or a noun. Poop. Poop. It looks and sounds funky, just like what it is. Poop. It turns gross into silly.

P is quite a character.

Published by jody sparks

Jody Sparks Mugele spent her first career in marketing writing and leading teams of writers and editors. After her son came out as transgender in 2015, she dedicated herself to advocating for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. For two years, she led the Indianapolis regional chapter of PFLAG, a nationally renowned LGBTQ+ advocacy group. She has given many conference talks about parenting trans kids, healthcare in the trans community, and suicidality among LGBTQ+ youth. And with GenderNexus, an Indianapolis-based advocacy organization, she created programming and led support groups to work with parents to help their children through all aspects of gender transition. She recently moved to Northeast Georgia where she is excited to develop opportunities to continue to strongly and proudly advocate for LGBTQ+ members of our society. She also LOVES kitschy Christmas crafting! View more posts

7 thoughts on “What’s Your Favorite Letter?”

YOU are too funny. (I think of blog posts and do not remember them at all when I am near a computer, or even a piece of paper. If I am near a piece of paper, I jot something that either makes me go “Huh?” or “What the – ?” later.

Hurrah for P. Poop! There it is. Poop! There it is…

I like “q” – is it strange that it’s a mirror of your “p”? Quizzical, is it not? And quirky – I LOVE that combination of letters. Most definitely I vote for Q, the quintessential letter.

Ahhh, but “P” is a “plosive” when speaking. It is a microphone’s nightmare and a letter–when I’m recording voice overs–that I have come to abjure. I was given a voice over script a few weeks ago with a paragraph full of p’s. It was so well-written, I loved the alliteration so much. But then I had to start rehearsing it out loud. You have to vocally pull back on P so your breath doesn’t explode the recording levels. So when you are writing the script for the audio version of your book, think of the lowly V/O artist who will struggle with your favorite letter, and maybe give them a break–every once in a while ;o).

Actually, on second thought, use all the p’s you want if it makes a good book. If the V/O artist is worth their voice, they’ll figure out the plosive.