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¿Question #809?
EndersGame: Why is the alphabet in that order?

Derang3d: Otherwise it'd be a Gammapi
Narlgoth: You'd think pirates get stuck on Arrrr, but in reality they are always lost at C.
Theme Matters: GOD DEMANDS IT
legolasegb: To confuse small children and Ender Wiggins
pricero1: 'Cause of the song, stoopid!
Micquebec: The order you think the alphabet is is only a paradigm of your mind. In reality, the alphabet is not in any order, it's only a fabric of our imagination.
EliasDKehr: The song was implanted in our minds by aliens. We just chose what matched the tune best.
ricardofo: The reason is in the tombs
Tirpen: They arranged it in alphabetical order so we could find the letters in it.
TommyP: Actually, that was my doing.
Spirit of 70: Tradition and consensus.
choco_addict: well, it depens on the laguage: for example, in The Brahmic family of alphabets used in India use a unique order based on phonology: the letters are arranged according to how and where they are produced in the mouth.
Felimid: Blame the Greeks or the Hebrews. You either start off "Alpha Beta" or "Aleph Bayt". Take your pick.
Infomanohio: I had absolutely nothing to do with it.
ssmooth: Tradition! Actually no one knows for sure how it started. There are a few details known, like I and J being next to each other because they used to be represented by the same letter, and XYZ being at the back because they were added last.
Steerpike.Instance: convention to aid memory
Zarion of Arabel: cause
WatchmanX2000: There was a great moot one day and everyone came to it. After much debate and argument, the elders sat down and settled this once and for all by tossing all the letters into the fire place. Anyone who wanted to could step up and pull a letter out and that one would go next in order. As it happens, a fellow named Aaa stepped up and grabbed the A first, though he burned his hand up pretty badly. This changed his name, but not the alphabetic order, since after that he was known as ARRRGGGH!
devine: what other order could it be?
gmcash: wow who knows
smcneil: Because if it were in any other order, then the song would just be cruel and misleading. Duh.
Blott: I don't know. Check a history book.
dfniii: I like it that way
heli: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/070302.html
Sideburn: first off all, if the first two letters would have been any other or in a different order it wouldn't have been called alphabet anyway...
Patticus: because it has to be in some order so this order was chosen without loss of generality
DHEK: I dunno... there could be some reasoning behind it, but I don't know.
william_henshaw: Good question, don't know why it would be asked, but a good question
Butterbane: symantics?
aleo09: ask them
xlorp: Why haven't we all switched to Dvorak keyboards?
nerman8r: totally arbitrary
TheDS: Because otherwise the song wouldn't make sense.
Ebon Wendigo: It's got to be some order
POvidiusNaso: Blame the Hellenistic librarians at Alexandria. They probably rigorized the Greek alphabet. (though we put Z at the end for some reason...)
Penguin_Hatcher: who did decide that?
Geosmores: so it would go with the song
Leo-T: because of that song
The_T: Because it's easy to sing.
MaksimSmelchak: Irrelevant question. Please ask questions about gaming.
pitferret: Because people are so resistant to change.
jlavigne: that's how the song goes
vampywife: because no one of influence every questioned it.
dmomo: Because the Tebahpla was quite offensive to some of our ancestors.
arkibet: Just by chance.
nexttothemoon: It's the way God wrote it in the bible.
ZiNOS: because y (why) is the question and z is the answer following
scriptorum: Because it's sorted in alphabetical order. Duh!
Sid Hawkins: Otherwise dictionaries would be very hard to use.
Avatar_69: In around 850 AD Arab grammarians reorganized the alphabet, for reasons of teaching, putting letters next to other letters which were nearly the same shape.
Gizensha: Because someone at some point in history made an arbitary decission which was technically pointless, but helps for ordering things with no other logical way of ordering them.
Chris Page: Because it's been alphabetized.
lauramath: Cause the school said
keldrak: i don't care
orodreth: It was a committee decision
Platinum Dragon: Do not question the alphabet!!
JackRandom: if not it would be a mess
brainrob: who cares?
Kazin: Actually, it's not. You just think it is.
LemonyFresh: The song would sound weird if it were in a different order
DarqueKhaos: The song
flyinghogfish: Because it's stated alphabetically, so it's the only way to do it
Loquutus: 42?
jellospike: I don't want to tell you my secrets
ZombyDawg: So they wouldn't screw up the song.
beakermyers: Because they never wanted me to be first in line in grade school
Legend Dan: In order to keep things neat, they put it in alphabetical order.
notquitekarpov: has to be in some order
sourwyrm: because a vest has no sleaves
saulsehy: why do fools fall in love?
Lord_Prussian: It's alphabetical that way, silly.
Claytonius Maximus: Quit ripping off Steven Wright (or if you're going to, at least give him credit)
JimPAX: You know, George Carlin is still funnier than you. As is Steven Wright, from whom you have stolen this question.
puffinge: they decided to put it in alphabetical order before presenting it to us.
GopherKH: Politics
Majiken: Because, that's why.
skrutsch: Yeah. I think we should put the vowels first.
The Unbeliever: 42
B_J_S: it's the Greeks fault
mandj2001: The song wouldn't make sense if the alphabet were in a different order.
erli: ABCDE
der_chad: Tradition. It has to be in SOME order.
Karlsen: Because otherwise the song wouldn't work
otrex: So you can alphabatize things and not get confused.
kimapesan: Otherwise the alphabet song wouldn't flow right.
jmagnini: because people couldnt remember it backwards
RandallPeek: Because of that song.
toulouse: Someone sorted it.
2amp: ahh, but it isn't.
GuyHill: It does not really matter what order it is in
DenverWolf: So the song sounds good. LMNOPEEEEE
Bearcat89: [Classified: TOP SECRET] fnord.
AlorielLelyn: Because some idgit way back decided it should be. Distribution of vowels is horrible. Similar sounding letters are right next to each other. Very much like an alpha or beta version of the alphabet.
gnomehome: It has to do with the keyboards and ease of typing.
netfilterz: cause of the decimal system...?
GeminiWeb: Otherwise the 'ABC' song doesn't make sense
Gelatinous Goo: to match that song
JoeSteadman: Cosmic realities hinge on it!
Nightmare: So that it will be alphabetical
thoia: There is probably some kind of numerical reference behind it all.
Blackwind: Duh, cause it can't be in any other.
isolated: Because THE MAN wants it that way.
Bluenose: It's a German thing...
CDRodeffer: It was a conspiracy.
onky: Because the other order didn't work out.
darthcliff: It's easier to sing
m_r_tyler: Was the only way to make the alphabet song sound right.
djlg: Its go to be in some order. What's wrong with it?
djflippy: It isn't in any order. You just happen read it from left to right every time. Who said you had to do that?
WasQ: Bceaues is omre aeys ot wtire
Ludocrazy: That's a really good question, for which I have no answer.
UhhhClem: So I can find my CDs.
raolsson: Tradition
BobDodgerBlue: Historical processes
louiseh: Why not?
phantomvortex: So it would be easier to make the soup.
chaddyboy_2000: Who is John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band?
Critical Mass: tradition
Ravsitar: Becuase the song wouldn't work if it wasn't.
ejmowrer: Because that's what sort returns.
ValJor: Otherwise we would all be very confused?
snoozefest: random chance, like life itself
Flyspeck23: Because otherwise it wouldn't be named "alphabet". "Betagam" perhaps, or "Omegabet".
Shakar: Athens used Vita, Alpha, etc. Sparta needed a casus belly, so they stated using Alpha, Vita, went to war and won.
CortexBomb: Arbitrary decisions made long ago?
tragicpoet: The letters were found that way
ScottBecker: They copied it from that song.
skelebone: The same reason numbers are in that order.
ynnen: Alpha - Omega makes it seem pretty sensible.
jttm: Makes it easier to sing the ABC song