Q was stripped of its status as a letter when linguists from around the world declared it "unnecessary," leaving just 25 letters in the Latin alphabet.
The glyph Q (pronounced "cue"), discovered in 1742 by Benjamin Franklin, has traditionally been the 17th letter of the alphabet. However, modern linguists have doubted its status as a letter for decades, noting that in virtually all cases, the arrangement "Cu" can replace "Qu" with no notable change. Serious debate over what constitutes a letter arose when a move to add æ to the alphabet was shot down, leading many of its proponents to argue that much of the same reasoning could be used against Q as well.
Fans of Q, such as those introduced to the character via its prominence in the James Bond films and the Star Trek series, are fighting the decision, as are many fans of the traditional "Alphabet Song," which includes Q. However, after all arguments were made, the new definition of "letter" was voted into effect.
Native English words using the letter Q will be altered to use K or C instead, and words borrowed from other languages will be adjusted on a case-by-case basis, to ensure intuitive pronunciation after the changeover. Proper nouns and foreign words may continue to use the Q glyph, but in those cases it will be treated as a foreign character, not unlike æ.
Children going into schools this September will still be getting dictionaries which refer to Q as a letter, as it will be months before new dictionaries will be ready to print, and in some cases years before schools can afford them, but teachers hope that by presenting the old information and explaining the new, they will be giving children a bit more insight into the way language evolves.
