in.case.you.were.wondering.

Double-u vs. double-v.

In the french alphabet, w is pronounced "double v". This seems appropriate since the w looks more like vv than uu. I've always wished we could fix it in the english language, but first decided to look up the reason why we say double-u. Here's what i found:

“English uses the Latin alphabet of the Romans. However, this had no letter suitable for representing the phoneme /w/ which was used in Old English, though phonetically the sound represented by /v/ was quite close. In the 7th century scribes wrote uu for /w/; later they used the runic symbols known as wynn. European scribes had continued to write uu, and this usage returned to England with the Norman Conquest in 1066. Early printers sometimes used vv for lack of a w in their type. The name double-u recalls the former identity of u and v, which is also evident in a number of cognate words (flour/flower, guard/ward, suede/Swede, etc.).”

I suppose it makes sense.