Spun manipulate circle text

jQuery( document ).ready( function() {

 $target = '.no-thumbnail';

 manipulateCircleText( $target );

});

/*
 * This function sets up the HTML of the circles ready for CSS to
 * manipulate the text so that the first letter shows by default
 * and only on-hover the rest of the text shows
*/
function manipulateCircleText( $target ) {

    $ = jQuery;

    // For each circle
    $( 'article.post' ).each(function() {

     // Start off by wrapping a <span> around all other characters other than the first one
     // So that you can style those other characters (hide them off screen) with CSS
     wrapSpan( this, $target  );

     // On-hover of the circle
     $( this ).find( 'a' ).hover(

      // Hover-in
      function() {
       // Delete the span tag we've wrapped to the circle title
       deleteSpan( this, $target );
      },
      // Hover-out
      function() {
       // Return the <span> back to all the characters but the first
       wrapSpan( this, $target  );
      }

     );

     // Do the same on-focus (for keyboard users) of the circle
     $( this ).find( 'a' ).focus(
      // Focus-in
      function() {
       // Delete the span tag we've wrapped to the circle title
       deleteSpan( this, $target );
      }
     )
     // Focus-out
     .blur( function() {
      // Return the <span> back to all the characters but the first
      wrapSpan( this, $target  );
     });

    });

     /*
     * Wrap all but the first character with a span
    */
    function wrapSpan( $this ) {
     $title           = $( $this ).find( $target );
     $countTitleChars = $title.text().length;
     $firstChar       = $( $title ).text().substr( 0, 1 );
     $otherChars      = $( $title ).text().substr( 1, $countTitleChars );

     $( $this ).find( $target ).empty().html( '<span>' + $firstChar + '</span>' + '<span class="otherChars">' + $otherChars + '</span>' );
    }

    /*
     * Delete the span we've wrapped
    */
    function deleteSpan( $this, $target ) {
     // Get the words of the title
     $titleWords = $( $this ).find( $target ).text();

     // Get rid of the <span> we just added by erasing the title
     $( $this ).children( 'span' ).empty()
       // Then add the original title back in, clean of our modifications.
       .text( $titleWords );
    }

}