QueenOfClews, Subject: The 27th letter of the alphabet    Mon Feb 18, 2013 1:12 pm

After reading some discussion about the style of "&" symbol used by Z, I started looking around for information about the origin of the Ampersand symbol. Apparently, the ampersand was once thought of as the 27th letter of the alphabet. I dislike using wikipedia as a source, but for the present purposes I have quoted from the wiki entry on ampersands.

("A", "I", and, at one point, "O") was preceded by the Latin expression per se ("by itself").[3][better source needed] Also, it was common practice to add at the end of the alphabet the "&" sign as if it were the 27th letter, pronounced and. As a result, the recitation of the alphabet would end in "X, Y, Z and per se and". This last phrase was routinely slurred to "ampersand". Traditionally, in English-speaking schools when reciting the alphabet, any letter that could also be used as a word in itself and the term crept into common English usage by around 1837.[3][4

I have often wondered if Z included the ampersand symbol into the 340 code. What I would like to know is, what would happen if the ampersand symbol was included as a possible plain text character, bringing the total to 27? Maybe this is a stupid question and makes no sense.

onewhoknows, Subject: Re: The 27th letter of the alphabet    Mon Feb 18, 2013 2:56 pm

That ia a great idea, that Zodiac included the Ampersand into his cyphers. For the number guys
everyone knows that 27 is 3 squared. 3x3x3 Hmmm…

Theforeigner, Subject: Re: The 27th letter of the alphabet    Mon Feb 18, 2013 6:56 pm

That ia a great idea, that Zodiac included the Ampersand into his cyphers. For the number guys
everyone knows that 27 is 3 squared. 3x3x3 Hmmm…

OR. 27=2+7=9

9=I

So maybe the +/& symbols in the cipher is the letter I/i ?