I was asked last night how often I update my blog. I couldn’t think of a word that meant “seldom, but only while I’m stupidly busy: when I’m less busy… more often”. In retrospect, maybe “erratically” would have been a good response. & so, to atone for my neglect, in the words of Blue Peter, here’s one I made earlier…
I really think that the ampersand is underused, underrated, undervalued, underappreciated, &, well, underloved.
{Bark chip ampersand, by Sarah France, via the blog The Ampersand, via Behance, via FFFFOUND! }
Once upon a time, & was deemed such a natural part of the alphabet than when children recited their ABCs, they concluded with “et per se and“. As in, ‘X, Y, Z… and, for that matter “and”, because it too is a letter’. After time, this was garbled into “ampersand”, in much the way that L, M, N, O, P becomes elemenopee in the mouth of a 5-year-old. Now I know all this to be true not only because of the eternal font of unvalidated wisdom that is Wikipedia, but also because I was told the same story by the other most authoritative of unauthoritative sources, My Father, years before the internet was around to sully our ‘Did You Knows’ with false folklore.
& so… here are some ampersands… &c.
MUST HAVE! A deluxe carrying case for an ampersand! { more adorableness by Marc Johns }
Ampersand cushion at loremandipsum‘s etsy store (sold out, but they still have CHOUETTE ampersand tees for sale!) { via FFFFOUND! }
Handmade clay ampersand by Lestaret { via NOTCOT }
Ampersand cookies (“They exist.”) { via The Ampersand again }
Veer did have these rockin’ ampersand cufflinks, once upon a time. Blogger’s remorse: I should have posted these when I first saw them on NOTCOT (a long time ago), but instead filed it away under “For When There Is More To Say On The Topic Of Ampersands”. So now (and for a long time) the Veer merch shop has ceased to exist, and by necessary deduction, also ceased to have the cufflinks. It’s probably for the best. I was always tempted to the verge of covetousness by unshippable Veer merchandise. [ EDIT: Veer store most certainly does exist at the above link. Ampersand cufflinks for all! (er, if you live in North America) ]
& on that note, it’s back to work.
Proof. (It’s a verb.) 
just to tempt you… veer Merch Store is alive and still has the lovely & gems just in case you are interested … http://www.veer.com/products/merch/
Oh, right you are! But still no love for the antipodes! Sometimes, I think I’d like to move to the US, if just for the shipping convenience…
So, back in the days when penmenship mattered…a time when, fortunately, I wasn’t alive, since it would mean I’d have no chance at any profession that involved writing…did people actually write ampersands rather than the…um…thing there’s no key for on my keyboard…but kinda like a + sign but drawn in one stroke?
I don’t think it was until I actually had to learn to write the alphabet that I realized that elemenopee was actually a bunch of different letters….