Kidsmomo

Yesterday I learned that in the English language, we supposedly use these letters the most, in this order:

often < e t a o i n s r h l d c u m f p g w y b v k x j q z > not often

Well, it makes sense to me that Z is at the end. But I definitely didn’t except N (Whoo! Go, Ns!) to make it in the Top 10.

Well, I spent my Friday night putting together a game based on this fascinating information. What? It’s not fascinating? Well, it is to me. Because I’m a nerd.

Here are the steps — my answers are in green.

1. Pick a book title. Charlotte’s Web
2. Count the number of letters in the title. Spaces and punctuation don’t count. 13
3. Assign each letter points, based on the super-duper-official-patent-pending Nancy’s Arbitrary Game for Letters in Book Titles Game^TM Guide:
   

   1	e t a o i
   2	n s r h
   3	l d c u
   4	m f p
   5	g w y
   6	b v
   7	k x
   8	j
   9	q
   10	z

4. Divide the Total by the Number of Letters: 29/13=2.23

Arbitrary Game Letters in Title^TM Score for Charlotte’s Web : 2.23

Other Scores Calculated
Bridge to Terabithia: ~2.0555…
The Phantom Toolbooth: 2.0
Holes: 1.9

And to save anyone else the trouble, I also calculated The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread and got a measly 2.15… so, longer is not always better!

So far my first title is still winning. Maybe one day an author will title a book with the sole purpose of winning this game… (Authors: Just kidding. Do not do this.) Get out some scratch paper, and see if your favorite book title beats Charlotte’s Web!

— Nancy
Nancy makes games like this all the time, because as she’s mentioned above, she’s a big nerd. With way too much free time.
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