Wordsmith Talk |
About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | |||
Register Log In Wordsmith.org Forums General Topics Q&A about words Names for symbols
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
There is plenty of previous discussion on # - hash/pound. I can't recall a name for @, though, other than "at".
I suppose its presence on the keyboard and its relative lack of use made it perfect for e-mail. Otherwise we'd all be xyz~adjklj.fjioh (~ is tilde, I think).
Gurunet reports the following:
Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon describe how the @ sign got there:
Tomlinson....became better known for a brilliant (he called it obvious) decision he made while writing [the e-mail] programs. He needed a way to separate, in the e-mail address, the name of the user from the machine the user was on. How should that be denoted? He wanted a character that would not, under any circumstances, be found in the user's name. He looked down at the keyboard he was using, a Model 33 Teletype, which almost everyone else on the Net used, too. In addition to the letters and numerals there were about a dozen punctuation marks. "I got there first, so I got to choose any punctuation I wanted," Tomlinson said. "I chose the @ sign." The character also had the advantage of meaning "at" the designated institution. He had no idea he was creating an icon for the wired world.
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted Names for symbols rviirre 01/21/01 07:00 PM Re: Names for symbols ladymoon 01/22/01 05:47 AM Re: Names for symbols doc_comfort 01/22/01 07:03 AM Re: Names for symbols jmh 01/22/01 07:14 AM Re: # AKA octothorpe Faldage 01/22/01 02:30 PM Re: # AKA octothorpe tsuwm 01/22/01 03:23 PM Re: Names for symbols Bobyoungbalt 01/22/01 04:13 PM Re: Names for symbols Hyla 01/22/01 06:12 PM Re: Names for symbols Fiberbabe 01/22/01 06:15 PM Re: Names for symbols musick 01/22/01 07:33 PM Re: Names for symbols stales 01/23/01 04:05 PM Re: Names for symbols maverick 01/23/01 05:24 PM Re: Names for symbols Jackie 01/23/01 05:47 PM Re: Names for symbols Sparteye 01/23/01 06:16 PM Re: Names for symbols rkay 01/22/01 10:02 PM Re: Names for symbols belMarduk 01/23/01 12:11 AM Re: Names for symbols wow 01/23/01 01:05 PM Re: Names for symbols wow 01/23/01 01:06 PM Re: Names for symbols juanmaria 01/23/01 08:27 PM Re: Names for symbols Bingley 01/24/01 03:23 AM
Moderated by Jackie
Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics Forums16Topics13,913Posts229,418Members9,182 Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members Ineffable, ddrinnan, TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV
9,182 Registered Users
Who's Online Now 0 members (), 546 guests, and 3 robots. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days) A C Bowden 23
Top Posters wwh 13,858Faldage 13,803Jackie 11,613wofahulicodoc 10,589tsuwm 10,542LukeJavan8 9,922Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210AnnaStrophic 6,511Wordwind 6,296of troy 5,400
Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith.org