# What's the deal with letter 'J'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-letter-j/498028 "2009-05-29T14:18:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-letter-j/498028/21 "2009-05-29T18:41:34Z")
Join date Johnny L.A. and the only two letter J word allowed in the Scrabble Dictionary: \*\*jo \*\* plural joes Etymology: alteration of joy chiefly Scottish : sweetheart, dear ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-letter-j/498028/22 "2009-05-29T22:01:08Z")
I suspect there is some kind of thought bias in this as well. That is, given almost any letter, it is easier to think of words that start with that letter than end with the letter or have it in the middle. (This is excluding common letter add-ons like s for plurals, ed for past tense, etc.) In the three letter license plate game\*, you must construct a word that has the three letters in the plate in that order (though not necessarily consecutively). E.g., MJC =\> majestic. It is generally the middle letter that is hardest to fit. And almost all first shouted out answers start with the first letter of the three. I don’t know how well I’ve explained this, and if anyone knows the name for this bias, I’d like to know. \*apologies to those of you who live in states that don’t have LLL NNN or NNN LLL plates ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-letter-j/498028/23 "2009-05-29T22:04:30Z")
spooje ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-letter-j/498028/24 "2009-05-29T22:25:12Z")
> [@mutantmoose](#): > > Can’t believe no one’s said hijack. It was the first one I thought of. **Hi, Jack!** (Sorry, I didn’t know your name was Jack.) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-letter-j/498028/25 "2009-05-29T23:34:09Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > There’s a current thread that is discussing the frequency of letters appearing in text. J comes in dead last. Do you have a cite for this? Because I’ve always heard that the least used letters are X, Q, and Z. (Assuming English language here – this varies by language.) They are low frequency in most of the European languages. Wikipedia’s take on this is [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_frequencies). It puts J as the 4th least frequent, before X, Q, & Z. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-letter-j/498028/26 "2009-05-30T01:01:39Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Do you have a cite for this? > > Because I’ve always heard that the least used letters are X, Q, and Z. (Assuming English language here – this varies by language.) They are low frequency in most of the European languages. > > Wikipedia’s take on this is [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_frequencies). It puts J as the 4th least frequent, before X, Q, & Z. I wouldn’t call it a “cite”, but: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11175653&postcount=11](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11175653&postcount=11) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-letter-j/498028/27 "2009-05-30T01:09:16Z")
Joan. Just Joan. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-letter-j/498028/28 "2009-05-30T03:01:05Z")
Playing scrabble as a kid, I noticed the paucity or words with J somewhere in the middle. “Major” is a one of the few common words with “J” in the middle. X, Q, Z maybe used more infrequently, but I suspect J is the least common letter when you take out the words that begin with J. On the same note, I believe words that begin with X are the fewest. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-letter-j/498028/29 "2009-05-30T04:58:18Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > On the same note, I believe words that begin with X are the fewest. In [Uncle Shelby’s A B Z Book](http://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Shelbys-ABZ-Book-Primer/dp/067121148X) by Shel Silverstein, the page for X read: “X is for xylophone. Because X is **always** for xylophone.” ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-letter-j/498028/30 "2009-05-30T05:43:32Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > In [Uncle Shelby’s A B Z Book](http://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Shelbys-ABZ-Book-Primer/dp/067121148X) by Shel Silverstein, the page for X read: “X is for xylophone. Because X is **always** for xylophone.” Or X-ray, which is really a copout for the silent xylophone hating rebellion. I, myself, prefer xenophobic. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-letter-j/498028/31 "2009-05-30T06:15:50Z")
I once wrote a short article for [Word Ways](http://www.wordways.com/index.htm) magazine list all the words I could find that end with J. I’d post a link, but it’s no longer on the net (some day, maybe I’ll get around to putting it back up, but don’t hold your breath). I scoured half a dozen unabridged dictionaries and found, IIRC, 41 such words. The only one that was at all common was **[raj](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/raj)**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-letter-j/498028.md?page=1)