• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / Odds / What Was the Shortest Letter Ever Written?

What Was the Shortest Letter Ever Written?

April 24, 2020 by Karen Hill

For the record of the world’s shortest letter, we have to travel back to 1862 in France. The noted writer Victor Hugo had just completed his latest novel, Les Miserables, and had gone away on a vacation. But he was most anxious to learn how the book was selling, so he wrote the following letter to his publisher:

“?”

The publisher was just as imaginative as Hugo and must share the record with him for the world’s shortest letter, for his reply to the writer was:

“!”

A reply that obviously made Hugo very happy.

What is also fascinating is that Victor Hugo is credited with writing the longest sentence ever to appear in a novel, in that very same Les Miserables. That sentence contains 823 words, 93 commas, 51 semicolons, and 4 dashes, and fills up almost 3 pages before a period appears!

Related Facts

  • What Was the Longest Letter Ever Written?
  • Where does the expression "Dog's Letter" come from and What does Dog's Letter mean?
  • What is the Shortest English Sentence Ever Created Using All the Letters of the Alphabet?
  • What Was the Longest Poem Ever Written?
  • Is the Shortest Day of the Year the Coldest Day?
  • What Was the Shortest Airplane Flight Around the World?

Filed Under: Odds

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « Did London Bridge Ever Really Fall Down and Where did the Nursery Rhyme Come From?
Next Post: What Was the Longest Letter Ever Written? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2021 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy