jots and tittles, tittles and jots

Jots and tittles are the dots put above letters in a text (like the dot of the i or the j) and the enlarged, bolded, smaller, elongated, or reversed letters that make texts fancy. In the Torah, they are the crowns, gaps, etc. that every sofer must get exactly right. They are the things that can't get transmitted in reprintings or translations. They are parts of words that might get assumed or overlooked. The very very anal have a reputation for getting all their jots and tittles.

So there it is. If I'm going to have a blog, you can bet your sweet patootie that it will have an element attention to detail, a shout out to the Torah, and some content that inevitably makes the sixth grade boy in each of us have a little giggle. (Heh heh. She said tittle.)