Committee of Letters

The Committee of Letters's international logo, established in 1678.

The Committee of Letters (C.O.L.) is an international association of linguists, scholars, wordologists, and letterologists dedicated to the preservation of English letters and characters. The group spans many English-speaking countries, including United States of America, Utah, Narnia, and Pluto. Among the tasks C.O.L. carries out are: searching the Seven Seas for prehistoric letters, passing bills to add or remove letters, and enforcing the proper use of letters.

History

The Committe of Letters was first founded in 1344 by the mysterious Order of The Comma in The Middle of Nowhere, though at the time it was called Ye Olde Committeth of Lettereth. Though all achievements of the organization started with the passing of the comma (,) as the official 14th letter of the English language, it soon grew into a national craze, spawning requests from bazillions of people across the nation to include countless symbols as official letters. Some were met with skepticism and distrust, such as x, ?, and even 6. Among the rejected requests included: ~, *, monkey, and that weird thing that looks like an a glued to an e.

For this reason, many people feared the C.O.L., claiming that if they were not stopped, they would soon be telling the masses what to eat, wear, and huff. In response, new rebel organisations sprung around the country, such as the infamous "Asterisk Angels" and the "lower case lions". These new and violent groups were thought of as terrorists bent on eliminating cherished letters from the public's beloved alphabet, and many were stopped in abusive COPS-style sting operations in just a few weeks of their formation.

Now in modern times, the Committe of Letters is largely accepted by the public, despite the fact that most of its members are illegal Norwegian immigrants. Yet, since 1344, the C.O.L. has been able to erase 64 obsolete letters and add 270 new ones to the English language, all while retaining their likeable, family-friendly image with letters like "baby Q" and the massively popular 7.

Departments

The C.O.L. has headquarters in Beruna, Narnia, The Center of the Universe, and the Crabs Nebula with scattered chapters throughout the 3rd and 5th dimensions, making them one of the largest official letter-passing organisations anywhere. The Committee also has several departments specialized in handling particular issues concerning letters and letter enforcement.

• Department of Letter Security passes laws to protect and govern the use of letters, particularly those who wish to abuse certain letters such as lol, &, and 34.

• The Department of Letter Exchange moniters the buying, selling, and trading of letters between languages and nations. Recently endured frequent criticism for its selling of the letter 4 to the Chinese, though they did obtain their symbol for "old man who sleeps in a double-wide and watches young men rough-house through a keyhole".

Who knew the Head of the Department of Pluralization was actually a head? Think of him as their spokesweasel and just go along with it.

• Department for the Deletion of Archaic and Obsolete Letters passes requests for the immediate removal of certain letters which are no longer usable or popular enough to remain a part of the English language, such as second paranthesis ()) (who needs that anymore?...

• Department for the Retrieval and Restoration of Prehistoric Runes recently changed their name to Department for the Retrieval and Restoration of Ancient Letters due to allegations of "rune" being a derogatory and extremely prejudice term. The Department specializes in funding missions to remote locations such as the Amazon, Indonesia, and Omaha, Nebraska to uncover prehistoric letters that might make good candidates for annexation into English.

• Department of Pluralization recognizes certain letters as the official plural form of others, such as "@" being the plural of "!"

• Department of Letter Enforcement enforces laws protecting letters from criminals, terrorist organisations, kittens, and other letters. Perhaps the most controversial department, gathering recent criticisms for its officers' "violent and unnecessary manners through which they punish letter-violaters", which has included beating the accused person(s), racially profiling suspicious letters, and the general corruption of its higher officials.

• Department of Military Enforcement is often blamed for treating the Committe of Letters as an independent nation with its own military capabilities. Though in the past, the department has shown to be of great use, particularly during the Lesser-than-Greater-than Wars of 1986 through 1989.

Notable Accomplishments

Letter	Action	Year
æ	Removal	1390
%	Removal	1401
?	Bought from Canada	1402
lowercase Q	quickly quarried by quincy the quail-hunter	1463
3	Annexation	1487
'	Made "Letter of the Century" for the new century	1500
@	Pluralized from "!"	1503
{, }	Sold to Canada	1611
$	thrown away	1616
&	Discovered in Mayan ruins	1665
J	Annexation	1698
+	Added when math was discovered	1770
why	made an individual letter	1772
capital O	removed	1780
www.	found in Atlantis; useless at the time	1800
$	found in Crabs Nebula by Shaolin monks	1840
$	bought from Shaolin monks	1840
S, I	separated individually from $	1841
baby Q	added due to demands for cuter letters	1878
#	sold to Swedish researchers	1910
www.	sold to Canada due to uselessness	1926
#	returned to C.O.L. from Sweden	1926
bee's knees	Annexation	1949
?	removed...or was it?	1954
monkey	Annexation	1970
D	won from Sweden (or should we say Sween?)	1989
www.	bought from Canada	1995
lol	Annexation	2000
å	Damn Swedes tricked us into buying this useless shite	2001
P.I.M.P	bought from 50 Cent for 50 cents	2002
...	being discussed with Nigerian government	2006-?