A Conversation for @ - A History
Naming @
Zathras (Unofficial Custodian of H2G2 Room 101. ACE and holder of the BBC Pens) Started conversation Nov 27, 2000
I seem to recall the Guardian having on ongoing letters page debate about the name for @.
My favourite was atpersand by analogy with ampersand (&.
Zathras
Naming @
Lonnytunes - Winter Is Here Posted Nov 27, 2000
I like it. Now all we have to do is get it introduced into the English-speaking world's dictionarys.
Naming @
Zathras (Unofficial Custodian of H2G2 Room 101. ACE and holder of the BBC Pens) Posted Nov 28, 2000
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 @
Gnomon - time to move on Posted Nov 29, 2000
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 @
Lonnytunes - Winter Is Here Posted Nov 29, 2000
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 @
Gnomon - time to move on Posted Nov 30, 2000
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 @
Researcher 195787 Posted Jun 4, 2002
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 @
turvy (Fetch me my trousers Geoffrey...) Posted Dec 18, 2002
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.
turvy
Naming @
The Guy With The Brown Hat Posted Dec 26, 2002
I always thought it was just called "the at sign" or "the at symbol".
Naming @
cyriax Posted Oct 27, 2004
"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 @
Cefpret Posted Oct 27, 2004
Accoding to Wikipedia, "spider monkey" is an existing species, and its German translation is "Klammeraffe".
Naming @
cyriax Posted Oct 28, 2004
mayby the same species is called "Klammeraffe" but the most germans (like me) don't realize that
Naming @
another primate (called rik) Posted Jul 31, 2005
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 @
Viscount_Grey Posted Jan 7, 2010
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 @
george-dragon Posted Jan 10, 2010
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.
Key: Complain about this post
Naming @
- 1: Zathras (Unofficial Custodian of H2G2 Room 101. ACE and holder of the BBC Pens) (Nov 27, 2000)
- 2: Lonnytunes - Winter Is Here (Nov 27, 2000)
- 3: Gnomon - time to move on (Nov 28, 2000)
- 4: Zathras (Unofficial Custodian of H2G2 Room 101. ACE and holder of the BBC Pens) (Nov 28, 2000)
- 5: Gnomon - time to move on (Nov 29, 2000)
- 6: Lonnytunes - Winter Is Here (Nov 29, 2000)
- 7: Gnomon - time to move on (Nov 30, 2000)
- 8: Researcher 195787 (Jun 4, 2002)
- 9: skinme (Sep 22, 2002)
- 10: turvy (Fetch me my trousers Geoffrey...) (Dec 18, 2002)
- 11: The Guy With The Brown Hat (Dec 26, 2002)
- 12: cyriax (Oct 27, 2004)
- 13: Cefpret (Oct 27, 2004)
- 14: cyriax (Oct 28, 2004)
- 15: another primate (called rik) (Jul 31, 2005)
- 16: Viscount_Grey (Jan 7, 2010)
- 17: george-dragon (Jan 10, 2010)
More Conversations for @ - A History
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