# Other alphabets **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 4, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463 "2005-05-04T23:26:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/1 "2005-05-04T23:26:53Z")
In a thread, in another forum, discussing Russian grammar, one poster was able to illustrate a point of grammar by using Russian lettering. So how do you get Cyrillic (or Greek, or whatever) letters to appear in a thread? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/2 "2005-05-05T00:28:46Z")
There’s built-in support for the symbol font, which has a lot of Greek characters. Quote me to see how I wrote [symbol]Blah blah blah[/symbol]. If you’re on Windows, select Start \> Run and type in “charmap” for a nifty little utility. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/3 "2005-05-05T03:16:09Z")
МНПРСТУФХЦЧШЩЪЫЬЭЮЯАБВГДЕЖЗИЙКЛ! ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/4 "2005-05-05T05:38:55Z")
It’s also possible to insert Unicode characters directly as &#[numeric code]; For example – the Hebrew letter “Aleph” (Unicode 1488), written as (amp)#1488; – א (In fact, if the character is supported in your own windows codepage [the one **you** are using], it may be re-converted to that even in your preview window; which **may not** be what you want; Unicode is probably supported now on more browsers than whatever codepage it is you happen to have installed) Dani ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/5 "2005-05-05T08:00:17Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > МНПРСТУФХЦЧШЩЪЫЬЭЮЯАБВГДЕЖЗИЙКЛ! You entered the Russian letters in the wrong order! ПOЧEMУ? (I did cut-and-paste to get that. 😛 ) ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/6 "2005-05-05T08:03:39Z")
I tried that Start\>Run\>charmap shtick. Even with Arial. The character map I get does not include Cyrillic characters. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/7 "2005-05-05T11:27:42Z")
? מה זה Wow, I didn’t realize we had Hebrew fonts available… and, when I select them, it goes right-to-left (the last Hebrew font I had, I had to type everything backwards and it was a pain.) This will help future discussions of biblical Hebrew etc! Thanks, **Noone**! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/8 "2005-05-05T14:46:24Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > I tried that Start\>Run\>charmap shtick. Even with Arial. The character map I get does not include Cyrillic characters. Did you scroll down (using the scroll bar to the right)? The charmap includes regular fonts, accented multinational fonts, Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, and some symbol fonts as well. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/9 "2005-05-05T19:26:59Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Did you scroll down (using the scroll bar to the right)? The charmap includes regular fonts, accented multinational fonts, Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, and some symbol fonts as well. I did. I know all about scrolling–I get it on MS Word when preparing a file. The character map I got had no scroll bars; what I saw was what I got. On Arial and Times Roman, no Cyrillic, Greek, or Hebrew. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/10 "2005-05-05T23:33:35Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > I did. I know all about scrolling–I get it on MS Word when preparing a file. The character map I got had no scroll bars; what I saw was what I got. On Arial and Times Roman, no Cyrillic, Greek, or Hebrew. ☹ Are you using Windows 98 or ME? The extended character set wasn’t introduced to the OS until 2K, I believe. You might be able to pick it up through the Windows update site. Otherwise, try out what **Noone Special** said. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/11 "2005-05-05T23:44:40Z")
In charmap, click on Advanced View and make sure that the Unicode character set is selected ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2005, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/12 "2005-05-05T23:52:04Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > I did. I know all about scrolling–I get it on MS Word when preparing a file. The character map I got had no scroll bars; what I saw was what I got. On Arial and Times Roman, no Cyrillic, Greek, or Hebrew. ☹ Hmm … I thought you might be able to use the “Insert Symbol” function in Word (you can select Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, etc, fonts), and then cut and paste from the Word document into the post. But I just tried it and I was unable to paste from Word into this post. That method _does_, however, work in WordPerfect, which is how I generated this string: АаБбВв Perhaps there is some way to do it from Word that I am missing. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/13 "2005-05-06T02:58:08Z")
ג ﮛ ☼ ♂ ♣ ‰ ╪ ♫ ⅜ ₤ Ω ğ ζ Б ש wheeeee, this is fun 🙂 . Charmap is my new friend. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/14 "2005-05-06T03:30:06Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > ? מה זה עברית! זאב סטיינהרט ---
**Author:** ![EmeraldGrue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dc4da7/32.png) [@EmeraldGrue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmeraldGrue)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/15 "2005-05-06T12:16:50Z")
!אױ געװאלט – זאָלסטו אײַנשלינגען א שירים און עס זאָל עפֿענען - Yiddish curse ---
**Author:** ![hawkeyejo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19b73/32.png) [@hawkeyejo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawkeyejo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/16 "2005-05-06T12:52:20Z")
No fonts for any Indian languages in charmap ☹ Oh, the humanity!!! ---
**Author:** ![cppguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@cppguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cppguy)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/17 "2005-05-06T21:01:30Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > There’s built-in support for the symbol font, which has a lot of Greek characters. Quote me to see how I wrote [symbol]Blah blah blah[/symbol]. > > If you’re on Windows, select Start \> Run and type in “charmap” for a nifty little utility. Font face symbol is [deprecated HTML](http://www.alanwood.net/demos/symbol.html), and only renders as you expected in IE. Opera and Firefox render your text as “Blah blah blah”. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2005, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/18 "2005-05-07T21:41:44Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > Are you using Windows 98 or ME? The extended character set wasn’t introduced to the OS until 2K, I believe. You might be able to pick it up through the Windows update site. > > Otherwise, try out what **Noone Special** said. I have Windows 98 Plus! on my computer. I don’t know offhand the Web address of the Windows update site. Speaking of Yiddish curses, I remember a line spoken by the TV repairman (Neil Schwartz) in an episode of _All in the Family._ After Archie Bunker told the repairman, who was Orthodox Jewish (and would not keep a TV company repair truck out past sundown on Friday), “Hey–turnin’ down business–_that’s_ goin’ against yer religion!”, Schwartz said, "Mr. Bunker, I can only answer that insult with an old Jewish expression: _Sin a leben in a hooise mit a toizen zimmers and boch deetrich in yede zimmer."_ (I did not remember this expression exactly) Bunker said, “What the hell does that mean?” Schartwz said, “You’ll never kniow, but believe me–I got even!” According to the liner notes on an album of AITF dialog, the Yiddish phrase translates as “You should live in a hotel with a thousand rooms and get a stomach-ache in every room!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/19 "2005-05-11T22:04:32Z")
digressing a bit - all of a sudden the font display is much larger than usual on my screen - on the order of maybe a 14pt instead of 12 pt. I have no idea what I did that changed it. Any thoughts on how I can tinker with the size? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2005, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463/20 "2005-05-12T01:11:57Z")
> [@Northern Piper](#): > > digressing a bit - all of a sudden the font display is much larger than usual on my screen - on the order of maybe a 14pt instead of 12 pt. I have no idea what I did that changed it. > > Any thoughts on how I can tinker with the size? All I can do is quote a quadrain from Ogden Nash: _E is for Evers, His jaw in advance; Never afraid 'To Tinker with Chance._ 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-alphabets/302463.md?page=2)