Grammar Girl here. I'm Injohn Fogarty, your friendly guide to the English language.

Today, we're going to look at the War of the Dots, and then we'll look at why we say things are pitch black.

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This first segment is by Karen Lundy. If you look closely at the number pad on an ATM or the sign next to an elevator button,

you'll see them. Tiny grids of raised dots. Most of us brush past them without a second thought,

and few of us realize that they are the result of a need for independence, a sort of war over reading standards, and one teenage boy's genius.

World Braille Day is coming up on January 4th, so let's look at the history.

The story begins with a tragic irony.

Lewis Braille was born in France in 1809. His father was a harness maker, and Lewis loved

playing in his workshop. When he was three years old, he was trying to punch a hole in a piece of

leather with an all, a sharp pointed tool, when it slipped and injured his eye. The infection spread and by the age of

five, Lewis was completely blind. Years later, Lewis would use a blunt version of the same tool,

the all, to punch the dots that would become the reading system, visually impaired people,

still used today.

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