“The” is the most commonly-used word in the English language, a three-letter article that occupies nearly every tweet, text, and status update you send. Now, an Australian restauranteur named Paul Mathis wants to revolutionize the way we use “the,” with “Ћ,” an ampersand-style symbol that could be a one-character stand-in for the ubiquitous word. It could make typing faster and more efficient, and in the case of Twitter, give you away to chip away valuable characters in a particularly verbose tweet.
Like all good revolutions, Ћ is, at its heart, a business venture. Mathis has invested $75,000 Australian (about $68,000 U.S.) into the idea, and is pushing a set of Android apps that would put the symbol on the keyboard. Watch a frantic pitch video above.
Ћ: genuine step forward for English or attention-grabbing gimmick? Only Ћ future will tell.
