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return with a v is supposed to give 'reject modernity' vibes but also is sometimes used as a alt-right dog whistle.


The thing about RETVRN that's funny is that the definition of what is and is not modernity is very slippery.

Though my initial impression wasn't fair. I overstated the RETVRN aspect. The main vibe of this list is effort justification. One of the main criteria for being ranked near the top is being a doorstopper (The Bible included). Makes reading seem more like an accomplishment you can lord over other people. But maybe that's not fair.


Specifically, ancient Romans often wrote the equivalent of our letter "u" as a "v". So a word like "magnum" would be "magnvm," although modern scholars of classical Latin just write it with a "u" for legibility :P


It's because it's very hard to chisel a curve into stone.




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