Etaoin Shrdlu

Posted on February 13, 2010 | Comments Off on Etaoin Shrdlu

This collection of the most commonly used letters in English (in order of frequency) has often been used as the name of some esoteric character or other in a story or play. I encountered it years ago as the name of the hero in a long-forgotten scifi short story. I had no idea so many artists had used it in one way or another, but Wikipedia has made quite a lengthy entry out of it.

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0 responses to “Etaoin Shrdlu”

  1. CGHill's avatar CGHill | February 13, 2010 at 9:17 pm |

    In Max Shulman’s Barefoot Boy with Cheek, one of the works cited in that Wikipedia entry, one chapter consists entirely of student-newspaper reports on a college election, and every single story contains that phrase. As the pols would say, it is seared into my memory.

  2. Dick Stanley's avatar Dick Stanley | February 13, 2010 at 9:44 pm |

    Heh. Boy, that’s overkill.