You might not know your ABCs — or be able to sing along anymore. The alphabet song of our youth has been updated, and confused parents are having to learn a new rendition of the song to keep up with their children.
The ABCs that we know and love — set to the same tune as “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” — has pauses after certain groups of letters, culminating in the phrase “Y and Z.”
It also closes with the lines “Now I know my ABCs / Next time won’t you sing with me?” and has the infamous fast-paced “LMNOP.”
But now kids are coming home from school singing a similar but new version, where there are pauses after different letters, ending with with “X-Y-Z” — omitting the word “and.”
The new song also changed up the closing line. Kids now sing “Now I never will forget / how to say the alphabet.”
Familiar way
A-B-C-D-E-F-G (pause) H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P (pause) Q-R-S (pause) T-U-V (pause) W-X (pause) Y and Z / Now I know my ABCs / Next time won’t you sing with me?
A-B-C-D-E-F-G (pause) H-I-J-K-L-M-N (pause) O-P-Q (pause) R-S-T (pause) U-V-W (pause) X-Y-Z / Now I never will forget / how to say the alphabet
While the tune is the same, the change is apparent enough to make parents feel like there’s a whole new alphabet altogether. Getty Images/iStockphoto
While the tune is the same, the change is apparent enough to make parents feel like there’s a whole new alphabet altogether.
The reason for the change-up is said to be so that there’s no longer the rush of “LMNOP.” It also removes the “and” in between “Y” and “Z,” eliminating the confusion about an extra letter.
The new way? A-B-C-D-E-F-G (pause) H-I-J-K-L-M-N (pause) O-P-Q (pause) R-S-T (pause) U-V-W (pause) X-Y-Z / Now I never will forget / how to say the alphabet NYPost Photo Illustration
Tampa Bay’s ABC Action News reported that the change helps students learning to speak English as a second language. The song apparently first circulated in 2012 on social media via the educational website Dream English .
Naturally, people have opinions on the shake-up of a tradition that has thus far stood the test of time.
The ABCs that we know and love — set to the same tune as “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” — had pauses after the letters “G,” “P,” “S,” “V” and “X,” and ended with “Y and Z.” Getty Images/iStockphoto
“Ugh, how dare you explain the extremely logical reason behind something from my childhood changing,” a user quipped.
“I agree with you but didn’t all of us turn out fine knowing how to read and such with the original way of singing the alphabet?” someone questioned.
Kids are coming home from school singing a similar but new version, where there are pauses after the letters “G,” “N,” “Q,” “T” and “W” and ends with “X-Y-Z.” X / @mostly_cheese
“This version is clearly superior, even though my nostalgia doesn’t want me to admit it,” another wrote.
“I was ready to rage about how needless this was and after listening, I tearfully agree this is clearly better,” someone agreed.
However, most were flabbergasted and believed the change was unnecessary.
“As a kid I said LMNOP but I knew there were separate letters. I was just lazy,” one person shared.
“I agree with you but didn’t all of us turn out fine knowing how to read and such with the original way of singing the alphabet?” someone questioned. Getty Images/iStockphoto
“Funny how we, English as a second language learners, were just fine learning the LMNOP but English-speaking kids ‘hear’ something else?” one commented.
“Who the hell thought LMNOP was one letter or that there was an ‘N’ between YZ? We literally had the alphabet on the wall in front of us with a teacher and a ruler pointing while we sang,” another argued.
“I’ve never ever in my life met someone who thought LMNOP or YN or NZ were individual letters,” someone pointed out.
“Somehow we all figured it out though. Not many adults thinking Y-N-Z is a letter,” a user agreed.
“Do they not go through the alphabet and actually teach each letter anymore? Just throw the song at ’em and let ‘em figure it out, huh?” one quipped.
The original poster, who goes by @teacherrachelsorsel on TikTok, explained in the comments: “Even with enunciation, kiddos this young are still developing phonemic awareness! This simple change is a big help to many. Often kids can’t get diagnosed with dyslexia or a phonemic disorder until the end of 1st grade or later. We want ALL kids to have access to at least the alphabet early on.”
“What research has found is that when kids are first learning to read, they have to develop two skills,” Rachel, who specializes in structured literacy, literacy intervention and dyslexia, further explained to USA Today . “One is called the alphabetic principle … The other skill is called phonological awareness.”
“You think of [the alphabet] so simply, everybody knows it, but there’s actually a lot of stuff little kids’ brains are doing when they’re learning letters,” she added.
“When they’re struggling with something as ‘simple’ as the alphabet song, the whole journey to read is going to be really difficult.”
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