The end of the alphabet was once recited as X, Y, Z, and per se and, meaning and by itself is 'and.' This phrase would become slurred into "ampersand," written as &. In Old English, "and" also appeared as "ond"" and "end," which trace back through Proto-Germanic "unda" to Proto-Indo-European "en-ti" or "anti," meaning "in front of" and "facing." & the symbol itself: a ligature from the Latin conjunction et. Medieval scribes compressed e and t until the conjunction embodied itself, becoming &. The conjunction might link equivalent grammatical elements, imply causation, or co-occurrence. Word and world, press and the surface yields, fold and crease. It might introduce contradiction, accumulation, or infinite extension. Falling apart and falling into place, more and more, on and on and on. It might report connections that already exist or create the possibility of connection itself. Because and is not a specific relation but that which subtends all relations, the condition under which relating becomes possible. "Is" cannot hold when and flows and links without destination, when language stammers in this continuous line of and. And exists in the middle, never at the beginning or end, always somewhere between the undulating terms it keeps in motion, the language it liquefies. Positioned at the end of the alphabet, it suggests something on the other side of language. And—being "in front of" or "facing" the end—concludes by beginning, facing an everything kind of something.

Write with and / Replace to be with and / Write &