'W' Gets Its Own Place in Swedish Language

The letter 'W' has entered the mainstream of the Swedish language, getting its own section for the first time in the country's most respected dictionary.

The few Swedish words that use 'W' have generally been borrowed from other languages — such as "watt," "walkie-talkie" and the "World Wide Web" — and have so far always been lumped under the 'V' section in dictionaries.

Wouldn't it be cool if we got a new letter? For one thing, it would keep computer programmers, like my husband, busy for YEARS changing all of the software, etc. Maybe we'd even get a big scare like that Y2K thing, we were eating beans for MONTHS in the beginning of the year 2000 when society didn't collapse.

What would our new letter be? Is there some sound we're spelling with the current 26 letters we have available that would be better served by having its own letter? Maybe something to replace the schwa "uh" sound, which as you can see here can be represented by any of the vowels we currently have in use. No wonder people find English challenging!