A Conversation for @ - A History

Naming @

Post 1

Zathras (Unofficial Custodian of H2G2 Room 101. ACE and holder of the BBC Pens)

I seem to recall the Guardian having on ongoing letters page debate about the name for @.

My favourite was atpersand by analogy with ampersand (&ampsmiley - winkeye.

Zathras


Naming @

Post 2

Lonnytunes - Winter Is Here

I like it. Now all we have to do is get it introduced into the English-speaking world's dictionarys. smiley - bigeyes


Naming @

Post 3

Gnomon - time to move on

Why change the name? Stick with "at".


Naming @

Post 4

Zathras (Unofficial Custodian of H2G2 Room 101. ACE and holder of the BBC Pens)

You read it 'at' but you still need a name for the symbol. Otherwise you would have to say "you know, that symbol that means at that they use in email addresses"

Zathras


Naming @

Post 5

Gnomon - time to move on

Why? We call "%" percent. We don't say "that sign that means "per cent". Similarly, dollar, star, plus, equals. Why should "at" be any different?


Naming @

Post 6

Lonnytunes - Winter Is Here

In my experience, most people when giving out an email address verbally say (for instance):- "loony at, you know - start making vague circular movements with their hand - xtra.co.nz".


Naming @

Post 7

Gnomon - time to move on

Maybe I'm just showing my age. I was taught in school that this was at. We had maths problems to do with 5 apples @ 3d each. To me, it is as much "at" as % is percent. It never occurred to me that not everyone thinks of it like that.


The symbol with the most problems of naming is #. I've heard it called:

hash
hatch
number
cardinal
pound sign
chicken scratch
sharp



Naming @

Post 8

Researcher 195787

hmm, well, "at' is boring. The Swedes call it "cinamon bun'; the Germans 'spider monkey'; and the Italians and French call it 'snail'. We should call it "at"?


Naming @

Post 9

skinme

squibblesmiley - magic


Naming @

Post 10

turvy (Fetch me my trousers Geoffrey...)

I'm with Gnomon on this one.

'At' is a perfectly good and understandable name for the @ symbol.

BTW the # is also shorthand for 'fracture' in medical circles - #NOF would be fractured neck of Femur. I have always know # as hash or representing number, however I have also heard it called the 'square key' in relation to phone key pads.

turvysmiley - blackcat


Naming @

Post 11

The Guy With The Brown Hat

I always thought it was just called "the at sign" or "the at symbol".


Naming @

Post 12

cyriax

"klammeraffe" means not "spider monkey" but "bracket monkey" or "monkey who hold itself on somthing the whole time" (If some germans have better expressions...)


Naming @

Post 13

Cefpret

Accoding to Wikipedia, "spider monkey" is an existing species, and its German translation is "Klammeraffe".


Naming @

Post 14

cyriax

mayby the same species is called "Klammeraffe" but the most germans (like me) don't realize that


Naming @

Post 15

another primate (called rik)


Spider monkeys have a ridiculously prehensile tail... its pretty much like a 5th limb, and appears to have a mind of its own. They are also highly arboreal, so monkey that holds itself on something the whole time seems rather apt.

Don't know how that connects with @ though...


Naming @

Post 16

Viscount_Grey

The shape of the a with a long "tail" curling up over itself is the link to the monkey....

And while the name of the symbol appears to be "Klammeraffe" in Germany, any German speaking the symbol (eg their email address) would say Markus PUNKT (. for the non germans) Schmidt AT gmx PUNKT de.... Albeit the "At" sounds more like "Et" than the english pronunciation of "At"....

Just because a symbol has a name, doesn't mean we say that name when using it... I can't think of anyone who actually lists things "Apples, Bananas ampersand Oranges" verbally!


Naming @

Post 17

george-dragon

Hi, I'm new here and I've just found this thread.

I agree with your name ' atpersand '. Whilst one knows the symbol just like % or $ or £, it does need naming. All we need is for people to know what symbol to write and how to write it when being given email addresses.

I always look for humour in language and word-plays.

smiley - smileysmiley - tea


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