# What's your favourite letter of the Greek alphabet? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 1, 2017, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630 "2017-05-01T10:39:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630/41 "2017-05-03T01:23:21Z")
Delta, for no particular reason. Nothing to do with the airline, anyhow. I am intrigued that at the moment it holds a 10-7 lead over its nearest competitor. Glad to be in the majority (well, the plurality) on something, but I would not have guessed that. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630/42 "2017-05-03T01:37:54Z")
µ got my vote because it’s so fun to write. I used μg and μl often during my laboratory years. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630/43 "2017-05-03T01:44:28Z")
Why Greek? Why not Hebrew? What’s your favorite Hebrew letter (and is it the same as your favorite Greek letter)? No, this isn’t a threadshit nor a hijack! Set the Hebrew alphabet alongside the Greek alphabet, letter-for-letter, and note: With a few aberrations, _they are the same alphabet_ – and in fact, some substantial portions of them are also the same as the Latin and English and Cyrillic alphabets. ```auto Αα Alpha א Alef (Aleph) Ββ Beta ב Bet / Vet Γγ Gamma ג Gimmel Δδ Delta ד Dalet Εε Epsilon ה He (Hay) ו Vav Ζζ Zeta ז Zayin ח Ḥet Ηη Eta Θθ Theta ט Tet Ιι Iota י Yod (notice it even has the property of being the smallest letter) Κκ Kappa ך כ Kaf / Ḥaf Λλ Lambda ל Lamed Μμ Mu ם / מ Mem Νν Nu ן / נ Nun Ξξ Xi ס Sameḥ Οο Omicron ע Ayin Ππ Pi ף / פ Pe / Fe ץ / צ Tsadi ק Qof Ρρ Rho ר Resh Σσς Sigma ש Sin / Shin Ττ Tau ת Tav Υυ Upsilon Φφ Phi Χχ Chi Ψψ Psi Ωω Omega ``` ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630/44 "2017-05-03T02:45:59Z")
Omega of course. Resistance is futile. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630/45 "2017-05-03T02:46:37Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > First, think about what the names omicron and omega actually mean. I had never noticed that before. I now rather like them both a little bit better. I’m going with 𝜈 because it doesn’t look like it sounds and it’s fun to write. > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > This reminds me of when I actually sounded out what is on those Jesus fish in Greek, and it turns out it’s not “Christos,” but “Ichthys.” I laughed out loud. It’s a fish that says “fish.” _I_ could have that on _my_ car. And a cat that says “cat,” and a dog that says “dog,” and so on. > > Also, sometimes people put them on upside down. Then I really laugh. Technically, it stands for Ἰησοῦς Χριστός Θεοῦ Υἱός Σωτήρ. But yes, it’s a fish that says “fish.” And it is funny when people put them on upside down. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630/46 "2017-05-03T02:59:16Z")
Just can’t decide. ������ ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630/47 "2017-05-03T04:10:51Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Why Greek? Why not Hebrew? What’s your favorite Hebrew letter (and is it the same as your favorite Greek letter)? > > No, this isn’t a threadshit nor a hijack! > > Set the Hebrew alphabet alongside the Greek alphabet, letter-for-letter, and note: With a few aberrations, _they are the same alphabet_ – and in fact, some substantial portions of them are also the same as the Latin and English and Cyrillic alphabets. … Well yeah. They are both, Greek and the Aramaic alphabet that Hebrew uses, direct descendants of the Phoenician alphabet. But ה, the ancient Israelite culture just did not create the world’s great math minds … compared to the Greeks virtually נ. (FWIW I’ve always been partial to ח … I just like saying that back of the throat sound! ע too, also for the sound it makes, not quite silent but subtle. And the way ו switches up from a consonant to two different vowel sounds depending on where dots are placed, or just knowing where they are supposed to be in the context of the word, always was fun too!) Seriously the why not Hebrew is because Hebrew letters don’t have much separate symbolic value to most, other than for a few playing dreidel, and in their dual role as numbers. Greek letters OTOH have been placeholders for complex ideas for many centuries of Western thought. Jewish intellectualism contributing to Western culture was relatively thin in the days of ancient Israel (short of that whole birthing the big monotheistic religions thing, anyway). **Sigmagirl** , here’s how you decide. make a list of letter and what you like up each one then add them up. The one with the bigger sum wins! ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630/48 "2017-05-03T07:43:44Z")
Δδ - Θθ - Λλ - Φφ - Ψψ I chose Φ because it was the only one that hadn’t received a vote yet. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630/49 "2017-05-03T12:03:37Z")
I’ll pick theta for the happy memories of my Calc 3 professor, Dr. Bauer. He had a thick German accent and pronounced it “TAY-tuh”. I can still hear him saying “The enclosed AHN-gl TAY-tuh”. Cool prof, one time as he wandered about the room during an exam he looked at my work and said “you forgot to divide by the sine”. Oh, thanks prof! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630/50 "2017-05-03T12:50:34Z")
I’m surprised nobody has picked tau (at least yet), given how it’s kind of gained a bit of popularity over the years with the math geeks who tout it over pi as being a more useful constant for those sorts of equations. (Tau is equal to 2pi). ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630/51 "2017-05-07T08:46:08Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Those other Greeks show up with shields all covered in ornate decorations. Gorgon heads, animals, lots of shapes and patterns. But if you’re a Spartan? Just slap on a Lambda. Does it have some deep significance? Nope, it’s just the first letter in “Lacedaemonia”. In other words, it’s entirely utilitarian and no-nonsense. Or, if you will: Perfectly Spartan. Laconic, even. Personally, I’m going to go with **double-𝜈** , also called double-nu. What’s that letter? Well, I just made it up and it looks like 𝜈𝜈, except run together. But they need a letter to represent the /w/ sound, so I figured I’d invent one. (OK, not terribly original. You come up with a new Greek letter. See if you can do any better.) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630/52 "2017-05-08T02:37:42Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Well don’t keep us waiting, **ftg**! > > Personally, I’m rather fond of ζετα and ξι, largely because I’m proud of the fact that I can actually write them as something more than a random scribble. I like how completely squiggly they look, too. Though I find that there is apparently some weird script version of all the Greek letters (as I see used on Numberphile or Periodic Videos) that I don’t know and would love to learn. Maybe it’s cursive? I think I’ll pick Xi as it also has a nice “big” form: the three lines version. I always thought it was neat that three disconnected lines could be a letter. Though, on my screen, it appears to have a line through them, which I’ve not seen before. It looks like a serif capital I with a line through it. Is this another letter with multiple forms? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630/53 "2017-05-08T05:44:50Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Laconic, even. > > Personally, I’m going to go with **double-𝜈** , also called double-nu. What’s that letter? Well, I just made it up and it looks like 𝜈𝜈, except run together. But they need a letter to represent the /w/ sound, so I figured I’d invent one. > > (OK, not terribly original. You come up with a new Greek letter. See if you can do any better.) No need. They already had a letter for /w/ (except they decided they didn’t want to pronounce /w/ any more, so they tossed out the letter along with the sound). Instead of double-nu, they called it double-gamma. Literally: digamma. Because it was shaped like two gammas stacked one on top of the other: F. Looked like f, sounded like w, now discarded and forgotten (except to write the number 6). So you were on the right track with that. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630/54 "2017-05-10T01:20:44Z")
I voted for Ψψ Psi, just because I’ve always thought it looks cool ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630/55 "2017-05-10T01:45:54Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I’ve always had a soft spot for the forgotten Greek letters: [digamma (Ϝϝ)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digamma), [qoppa (Ϙϙ)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koppa_(letter)), and [sampi (no Unicode for the variants I used)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampi). I’d occasionally use them in my physics homework (qoppa especially), where running out of symbols was not uncommon. Similarly, I like [Stigma (ϛ)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stigma_(letter)), although it’s really a ligature (like digamma). It’s _also_ used for the number 6 - take that, digamma! Alas, in the poll I had to vote Ψ. Although I did find them useful when running _Champions_… ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630/56 "2017-05-10T15:12:13Z")
Dammit, **Puly** , you ruined my joke! I was going to say every one goes for pi because, well, pi is awesome and delicious but tau is better because it’s 2 pi (s). I picked Phi because it gets no love and omicron always sounded like a Decepticon. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2017, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630/57 "2017-05-11T04:07:15Z")
Xi, because it has an alternate form that’s like a Z but with an additional zag, more like the conventional lighting bolt. > **[File:Greek uncial Xi.svg](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Greek_uncial_Xi.svg)** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-letter-of-the-greek-alphabet/785630.md?page=2)