dot the i’s and cross the t’s (idiom):
to take care of every detail, even minor ones
to be thorough and precise
complete the task while paying attention to the details
Depending on the source that you read, this expression was first used in the 18th or 19th century. It refers to the (almost) lost art of cursive writing and the habit people had of writing the sentence and then going back over that sentence to put a dot over the i and a cross through the top of the t.
Strangely, the letter j was left out of this idiom…too wordy? Dot your i’s and j’s and cross your t’s! Yes, probably too much. 😊
Did you know? The dot over an i or a j is called a tittle. A tittle means a tiny, little mark. The cross through the t is called a jot. The word jot comes from the Latin word jota, an alternate spelling of the Greek iota, and this means an extremely small amount. The idiom, then, could be: Tittle your i’s and jot your t’s! Tittle and jot have been in use for centuries. More recently, the words have fallen out of popularity, and now people use dot and cross to describe the marks that finish those letters.
Why do we use the tittle and jot? These marks were added to the letters so they could be easily distinguished from other letters within a sentence. There are a lot of bumps, curves, and loops in cursive. Without these extra marks, it can just look like a big, unreadable mess. The dots and crosses make the letters distinctive from the other letters that look similar. So, in order for their written words to be more readily understood, the author would be sure to re-read their writing and add the missing tittles and jots.
With handwriting seeming to be a thing of the past, this idiom is not so recognizable anymore. But the sentiment remains true. Writing (using any method) should be double-checked for errors and for things that might be missing that would make it difficult to read. Like the writers in days gone by who had to read their writing over, looking for and correcting errors, writers today should do the same. And if they can’t, I will be happy to do this for them!
I have written: Your i’s will be dotted and your t’s will be crossed. This means that I will make sure that your writing is understandable and that you haven’t missed anything. I won’t be checking your tittles and jots since I usually only look at Word files…but I will be that thorough when I read your writing.
I also understand that there are some who believe that i’s and t’s are an incorrect way of writing this. Some grammatists will adhere to the rule that the apostrophe is only to be used to show possessive, in which case these can only be written: is an ts or Is and Ts. But the problem here is that the Is can be mistaken for the word is. What to do about that? Put an apostrophe between the i and the s. With the t this doesn’t pose a problem, but doesn’t that look wrong—to have one with an apostrophe and not the other? Yes, it does. So, both get an apostrophe for the sake of continuity and consistency, which is also an important element in making sure your readers understand what you are trying to convey with your words and punctuation marks.
Here’s another thing: Some style guides (or editor’s Bibles) advise following this apostrophe rule, while others, like the Chicago Manual of Style (7.64), advise writing it: dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. The accepted version of this idiom has always been written with apostrophes. And this isn’t the only idiom that uses the apostrophe this way. Mind your p’s and q’s, and x’s and o’s to show kisses and hugs are two examples of this.
This idiom is a perfect summation of what I do as an editor and a proofreader. I check to make sure that the details have been looked at, and if there are errors, they are corrected. Unless, of course, there is a very good reason to do something different with your words, stylistically or for consistency, such as following an age-old idiom that makes perfect sense once you dig into the meaning of it.
Happy Writing!
tara@dottediediting.com
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