three R's

pl.n.
Reading, writing, and arithmetic, considered as the fundamentals of elementary education.

[From the phrase reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic, alteration of reading, writing, and arithmetic.]

The fundamentals of education, as in It's a terrible school; the children are not even taught the three R's. It is widely believed that Sir William Curtis, an alderman who became Lord Mayor of London, once presented a toast to the three R's--reading, riting, and rithmetic--thereby betraying his illiteracy. In any event, the term was picked up by others and so used from the early 1800s on.

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