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| '''[[C (letter)|C, c]]''' is a letter of the Latin alphabet. It is the third letter of most variants, being placed after B and before D, as is the case for instance in the English alphabet. Its English name is pronounced [ˈsiː], like ''see'' and ''sea'', and is occasionally spelt out as ''cee''.
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| C is also the Roman numeral representing the number 100.
| | ==Footnotes== |
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| ==Use in English==
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| Though very common in English, '''c''' has (as in French, Portuguese, Catalan and many varieties of Spanish) no sound of its own. It is either in the back of the throat, exactly like '''k''' ('''kíng''') and '''q''' ('''quêen''') or it is a hiss, like the most common sound of '''s''' ('''sô''', '''híss'''). (The accents show stress and pronunciation: see English spellings.)
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| '''c''' is actually more common than '''k''' - and much more than '''q''' - for the throaty sound. It occurs before back vowels '''a''', '''o''' and '''u''': '''cát, còme, còunt, cûre, côast''', and liquid consonants '''l''' and '''r''': '''clíck, crúst, clàss'''. In '''crícket, thícket, rácket, wícker, bícker, lócker, dócker, crácker, brácken, bráckish, lácking''', the '''k''' is needed to show the throaty sound of the second '''c''': without the '''k''', the '''c''' would sound like an 's' because of the following '''e''' or '''i'''. Also, -'''ck''' is more common at the end of words as in '''déck''' and '''clóck'''. But after '''í''', '''c''' is quite common finally: '''plástic, pánic, eléctric, frenétic, mûsic'''. Compare '''síc''' ''thus'' with '''síck''' ''ill''. Also: '''mâniác, lîlac, ålmanác, blóc'''. By contrast, words do not end -ec or -uc.
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| The hissing '''s''' sound occurs before front vowel letters '''i, e''' and '''y''': '''cïrcle, céntre, cŷcle, cínema, nîce, Lâcy, Trâcy, pâcy'''. For the hissing sound to remain before a back vowel, a cedilla is used in '''Bàrça''' (cf. '''Barcelôna''', where no cedilla is needed), '''curaçào, soûpçon, façàde''' and '''Provençàl''' (*Próvón-sàl).
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| The famous rule "'''i''' before '''e''' except after '''c'''" applies only to the '''ê''' sound (and not to '''èi''' as in '''vèin'''): '''cêiling, decêit, recêive, recêipt''' (-êet). And then, not only after '''c''', as it happens: '''sêize, wêir, wêird, Nêil, Kêith''' and '''Shêila'''. Compare '''vèil, vèin, fèint''' ''pretend'' (= '''fâint''' ''swoon''), '''dèign''' ''condescend'' (= '''Dâne''' ''Denmark''), '''rèign''' ''queen'' (= '''râin''' ''wet''), and also '''théir''' ''they'' (= '''thére''' ''here'').
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| Quite often, especially at the beginning of a word, '''sc''' is used for the hissing sound before front vowels: '''scêne, scéptic, scîence, scént, scíssors, scîon, scintílla, scímitar, scŷthe, sciática''' (*sŷáttica).
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| In the suffix -'''ésce''': '''acquiésce, effervésce''', and pronounced '''z''' in '''créscent''' (*crézzənt).
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| An exceptional '''c''' is found in '''encephalîtis''', pronounced '''k''' before '''e''' (enkéf-); otherwise '''c''' is always a hiss before '''e''', '''i''' and '''y'''.
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| There are silent '''c'''s in '''indî'''c'''t, Tû'''c'''son''' and '''Conné'''c'''ticut'''.
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| '''ch''' most typically sounds like '''t''' plus '''sh''' – not usually like '''sh''' alone. French, German and Portuguese do not have this sound, although the Germans write it in foreign words as ‘tsch’. Spanish does have it, whence '''mácho''' (*mátcho: it is sometimes mispronounced ‘macko’, as if Italian). '''ch''' is common in English, which has taken French words like '''chàrm''' ('charme' in French) and modified the sound of the French '''ch''', which has the English '''sh''' sound: '''chéck, choôse, chânge, Ríchard''' and also '''côach, bêach, chêek, chéss, chêer, cheŵ, escheŵ''' (which has a rare, separately sounded, '''s''' before it). Inside a word, there is often a superfluous '''t''' before '''ch''': '''ítch, dítch, cátch, mátch, bùtcher''' - but never after '''r''': '''tŏrch, lürch, àrch''', except in names: '''Pàrtch''' ''person'' = '''pàrch''' ''tongue''. And '''Tchaîkovsky''' has the '''T''' initially.
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| Uniquely, this sound is spelt '''Cz''', however, in '''Czéch''' ''Republic'' (= '''chéck''' ''determine'' = BrE '''chéque''' ''cash'').
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| In some words more recently taken from French, '''ch''' sounds exactly like '''sh''' in '''shê''': '''machìne, nìche, pastìche, '''BrE''' moustàche, '''AmE''' moústáche, párachute, créche, Chicàgo''' and '''nónchalant''', in which AmE French-style silences the '''t''': *nonshalàn.
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| In other words, mostly from Greek, '''ch''' is pronounced '''k''': '''chord, chémist, psŷchê, dichótomy, schême, àrchive, synécdochê, schoôner'''.
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| In various Celtic words '''ch''' can sound like the Arabic '''kh''', e.g. '''lóch, Dócherty''' - but many non-Celts simply make the '''k''' sound here. And in the variant spelling '''Dóherty''', the '''h''' sounds like itself alone - or like '''kh''' or '''k'''.
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| In yacht, '''ch''' is silent: *yót.
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| '''ci''' before a vowel can have the '''sh''' sound: '''atrôcious''' (*atrôshəss), '''précious''' (*préshəss), '''magícian''' (*məjíshən), '''Confûcius''' (*Kənfyoôshəss) - but never the '''zh''' sound, which is restricted to '''si''': '''confûsion''' (*cənfyûzhən).
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| In the musical term '''acciacatûra''', from Italian, '''cci''' is pronounced with the 'ch' sound.
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| Double '''c''' has the '''k''' sound before back vowels (but for this, '''ck''' is far more common medially and finally): '''accŏrd, tobácco, accommodâtion, áccolâde, sóccer'''.
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| '''c''' has the '''x''' sound before '''i''' and '''e''': '''áccent, accépt, áccident, fláccid, áccess, succêed, succéss, váccine, Óccitan'''.
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| '''c''' begins consonant clusters: '''accépt''' (x sound, while '''accŏrd''' has no cluster, only the k sound), '''acknówledge, táckle, clûe, ácmê, acquîre, cróss, áct'''.
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| ==='''Mc'''- and '''Mac'''-, etc.===
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| In names beginning '''Mc'''- and '''Mac'''- before another '''c''', '''k''' or '''g''', the '''c''' is silent, while the sometimes invisible '''a''' is in most cases pronounced with the schwa sound. It is as if the '''c''' itself were being pronounced schwa: '''McGóugh''' (*MəGóff), '''McCúrry, McCŏrmack, McKénzie''' = '''Mackénzie'''.
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| Either '''Mác''' or '''Mc''' can be stressed in a smaller number of names: '''MácIlvoy, McEnroe'''. In the latter the stressed syllable is an invisible '''a'''.
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| ''[[C (letter)|.... (read more)]]''
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The Irvin pin. The eyes have always been red, but there are
urban legends about the meanings of other colors.
A pin from another company, possibly Switlik or Standard Parachute. This style is common in catalogs and auctions of military memorabilia.
The Caterpillar Club is an informal association of people who have successfully used a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft. After authentication by the parachute maker, applicants receive a membership certificate and a distinctive lapel pin.
History
Before April 28, 1919 there was no way for a pilot to jump out of a plane and then to deploy a parachute. Parachutes were stored in a canister attached to the aircraft, and if the plane was spinning, the parachute could not deploy. Film industry stuntman Leslie Irvin developed a parachute that the pilot could deploy at will from a back pack using a ripcord. He joined the Army Air Corps parachute research team, and in April 1919 he successfully tested his design, though he broke his ankle during the test. Irvin was the first person to make a premeditated free fall jump from an airplane. He went on to form the Irving Airchute Company, which became a large supplier of parachutes. (A clerical error resulted in the addition of the "g" to Irvin and this was left in place until 1970, when the company was unified under the title Irvin Industries Incorporated.) The Irvin brand is now a part of Airborne Systems, a company with operations in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K.[1].
An early brochure [2] of the Irvin Parachute Company credits William O'Connor 24 August 1920 at McCook Field near Dayton, Ohio as the first person to be saved by an Irvin parachute, but this feat was unrecognised. On 20 October 1922 Lieutenant Harold R. Harris, chief of the McCook Field Flying Station, jumped from a disabled Loening W-2A monoplane fighter. Shortly after, two reporters from the Dayton Herald, realising that there would be more jumps in future, suggested that a club should be formed. 'Caterpillar Club' was suggested because the parachute canopy was made of silk, and because caterpillars have to climb out of their cocoons and fly away. Harris became the first member, and from that time forward any person who jumped from a disabled aircraft with a parachute became a member of the Caterpillar Club. Other famous members include General James Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh and (retired) astronaut John Glenn.
In 1922 Leslie Irvin agreed to give a gold pin to every person whose life was saved by one of his parachutes. By 1945 the number of members with the Irvin pins had grown to over 34,000. In addition to the Irvin Air Chute Company and its successors, other parachute manufacturers have also issued caterpillar pins for successful jumps. Irvin/Irving's successor, Airborne Systems Canada, still provides pins to people who made their jump long ago and are just now applying for membership. Another of these is Switlik Parachute Company, which though it no longer makes parachutes, still issues pins.
