In which Rebecca shows off her birthday socks, looks at a certain Roman numeral and explores what else the letter L might stand for.
Dear Reader,
An L can represent many things. To date I have claimed a long-standing affinity with the letter, given that it can stand for left-handed, large and lost – all labels with which I wholeheartedly identify. And as of this month I can add a further L to my list of claims to the letter, because L also represents the number 50 in Roman numerals.
Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, each letter with a fixed integer value. Modern style uses only these seven:
I for one
V for five
X for ten
L for 50
C for 100
D for 500
M for 1000
The numerals for 4 (IV) and 9 (IX) are written using subtractive notation, where the smaller symbol (I) is subtracted from the larger one (V, or X), thus avoiding the clumsier IIII and VIIII. Subtractive notation is also used for 40 (XL), 90 (XC), 400 (CD), and 900 (CM).
As a teenager I was given a beautiful analogue watch with a dial showing letters instead of numbers. I’d learned all about Roman numerals at school, and knew that 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 were represented by I, II, III, IV and V, so why did my watch have IIII to represent the number 4? Even Big Ben has a proper IV in that position.
The complexities of using letters in place of numbers can baffle the uninitiated, and even when we know which letter stands for what, well, depending on context we can still be caught out.
In a moment of sheer madness I’d picked to study literature in three languages for my A Levels. My favourite English teacher had retired the summer before I started my two-year journey from GCSE to A-level exams, and after she’d heard how much I was struggling to consume and understand all the text I was expected to plough through had kindly offered regular English Lit tutorials at her home. For weeks we immersed ourselves in The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford, and for all of those weeks Mrs B would wax lyrical about allegory.
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford is an allegory about the difference between reality and appearance, and how the idea of "good people" is subjective.
No, I had no idea either. Still don’t, actually. 🤫
Our time spent with Ford gave way to an 884-page handhold through Dickens’ relentless Bleak House, and although I thoroughly enjoyed the company of Mrs B there was no disguising the fact that her sessions were hard work.
In that time I got to know her husband, a dapper, delightful and distinguished children’s book author of smallish stature. As Mrs B and I said our goodbyes one morning she picked up a piece of clothing leaning over the back of a chair.
‘I bought this shirt for Anthony’, she told me, ‘and I just can’t understand why it’s so enormous on him.’
She held it up.
‘What size is it?’ I asked.
‘Forty.’
I found this hard to believe, and had a look at the label.
‘It says “XL”!’ I told her.
‘That’s right. Forty.’
Reader, that day Mrs B learned something from me, if only about modern shirt sizing.
When I’m scrolling through Netflix when it’s my turn to pick a weekend film to watch it’s very helpful to see the year of release just beneath the title. What I really love, though, is to see the end credits of anything I’m watching on television. Until just a few years before we hit the iconic year 2000 – MM, for the record – those Roman numerical dates on the concluding line of the credits would be a tangled sequence of what looked like random letters, and especially with old British 1960s and 70s sitcoms I’d struggle to identify the date at a glance. I liked the challenge of working it out, though; it was always something to look forward to at the end of the programme.
Whether you find these sequences of numbers represented by letters elegant or eccentric, either way they make any kind of sums pretty hard when you’ve been brought up calculating in actual digits.
MMXXIV minus MCMLXXIV equals L. ✔️
2024 - 1974 = happy 50th birthday, Rebecca. ✔️
L stands for plenty else other than fifty, though.
Take, if you will, a gesture often shared by irksome teens:
Oh, hang on, I’m l-for-left-handed.
Using that hand to demonstrate my point clearly makes me the……
😂
If I’m texting, I might use L to represent either laughter or love. LOL can be laugh out loud, or lots of love, and both show positive emotions.
That’s rather l-for-lovely, don’t you think?
So far, MMXXIV – sorry, 2024 – has thrown up other Ls for me to claim as suitable labels.
You see, a health condition has been making me feel both low and lazy.
I’m lighter.
I am langsam (🇩🇪 slow).
Lentement (🇫🇷 slow).
Largo (🇮🇹 slow).
I feel less than Rebecca.
But years have the power to heal, and given my confidence in having at least another five more decades to go I’ll conclude this post by colouring my L a little brighter.
L is for fifty. That’s me. 🥳
And L, dear Reader, is for loved.
That’s me, too.
❤️
With love, as always,
Rebecca xxx
I deeply appreciate both you and our journey together on Substack.
❤️
If you’re a Substack writer who has been used to seeing me popping up in the comments of your wonderful posts – which I have always loved to read and continue to appreciate – you might not have seen me around for a while. I don’t mean to be under the radar.
🏋️♂️
Although at the moment I’m only really ticking the boxes for laidback and langsam I absolutely know that I’ll be more lively a little later.
😊
📚 Regular readers of ‘Dear Reader, I’m Lost' will be no strangers to my ongoing light-hearted correspondence with fellow Brit
of . It’s my turn to reply to him next Wednesday!If you’ve enjoyed this post, please let me know by clicking the heart. Thank you.
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I enjoyed this a lot! I used to be baffled by the dates in capital letters at the end of movies and TV shows and could only guess them if the number stayed on screen long enough, or the date was short enough. No "freeze-framing' back in those days!
A very very happy birthday to you dear Rebecca and hoping the next 50 your include a surge of energy back to you before settling into a lovely walking land writerly life! You have a book to write, after all 🤗❤️🎉
LOL at the XL shirt story!
And Penblwydd Hapus Iawn...a very happy birthday from West Wales, Wet today😊
(I realise that looks like lawn, but it's actually a capital i...🙄)