A delightful exploration of the letter ‘r’.
This was sent in by reader Colin Reynolds. To be honest, I cannot do better than to reproduce the entire email.
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I only just subscribed to the OED ‘owotd’ yesterday.
Yesterday’s word was a great one for me: ‘quisquilian‘.
Today’s made me think of you 🙂
dog’s letter
“There is only the difference of the dog’s letter between friend and [fiend].” The Westminster Review (London, UK); 1830.
—
Colin Reynolds
Some days the best I can do is stick a pencil in each nostril and go ‘wibble‘.
Date: Sun, 5 May 2013 01:30:00 +0100
From: oedwotd@oup.com
Subject: “dog’s letter, n.” – Word of the Day from the OED
To: OEDWOTD-L@WEBBER.UK.HUB.OUP.COM
OED Online Word of the Day
The March 2013 quarterly update is now available. New words and meanings have been added across the dictionary, including braggadocious, podium, Vulcan, and whip-smart. Find out more…
Your word for today is: dog’s letter, n.
dog’s letter, n.
[‘ A name for the letter R (from its resemblance in sound to the snarl of a dog). Now rare.’]
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈdɒɡz ˌlɛtə/, U.S. /ˈdɔɡz ˌlɛdər/, /ˈdɑɡz ˌlɛdər/
Forms: 15 dogges letter, 16 dogs letter, 18– dog’s letter.
Etymology: < the genitive of dog n.1 + letter n.1, after classical Latin littera canīna (Persius).
A name for the letter R (from its resemblance in sound to the snarl of a dog). Now
rare.
a1552 A. Barclay tr. S. Brant Stultifera Nauis (1570) f. 69, This man malicious which troubled is with wrath, Nought els soundeth but the hoorse letter R Though all be well, yet he none aunswere hath, Sauve the dogges letter, glowming with nar nar.
1630 W. Vaughan Arraignment of Slander iii. i. 82 A blasphemous censure.which eyther may be termed a kinde of scurrility, or knauish carping,..or else a doubling of the Dogs letter R. out of their snarling nostrils.
a1637 B. Jonson Eng. Gram. i. iv, in Wks. (1640) III, R is the Dogs Letter, and hurreth in the sound; the tongue striking the inner palate, with a trembling about the teeth.
a1670 J. Hacket Scrinia Reserata (1693) i. 55 Whose pamphlet is perpetuus Rhotacismus, one snarling Dogs-letter all over.
1830 Westm. Rev. 12 356 There is only the difference of the dog’s letter between friend and [fiend].
1858 R. D. Bulwer-Lytton World & his Wife I. ii. ii. 9 In this short query the dog’s letter, the r, whirred through the air.
1943 E. Esar Comic Dict. at R, The dog’s letter-r-r.
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So there you go. Bet you didn’t know that anymore than I did!
Thanks Colin.
Learning from Dogs 
Nope! I learnt something else from LfD today. Enjoy your weekend
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And you, Sue. Not forgetting all readers and followers of Learning from Dogs, of course!
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Never heard of the dog’s letter R — now my life feels more complete 🙂
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Trying very hard not to think of what you might be missing in your life for the dog’s letter to make it more complete? 😉
Seriously, good of you to drop a comment into the box! Have a peaceful and enjoyable week-end.
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*chuckles* A new one for me too!
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Chuckles are good! 🙂
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Always 😉
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