An Australian restaurant owner-turned-innovator has created a character to replace the word “the” in the English language. Similar to how the ampersand replaces “and” and the “@” symbol replaces the word “at,” Paul Mathis’ character looks to simplify .

“The main functionality of this is in the texting space,” Mathis . “Is this important? No. Is this going to change the world? Not really. But is it something that might be useful for people? I think so.”

Mathis argues the ampersand (&) replaces “and,” the fifth most common word in English, and that the word “the,” which is used more frequently, has no such replacement. But as far as a new symbol for “the” goes, it won’t be gaining any wide-scale recognition anytime soon. Here are three reasons why…