Wayne Graham said:

 

The technical term for "@" is actually "Commercial At"...see http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/searc...

I spend way too much time on that site trying to figure out 18th and 19th diacritics...;)

 

todd sharp said:

 

* = asterisk
^ = carot/carrot
~ = squiggly line

 

Serge Jespers said:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%40

 

nyë said:

 

Hi!

In spanish @ is called "arroba".

enjoy your free time!

 

Jim Priest said:

 

Waste a bit more time here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sign

 

Aaron Lynch said:

 

"Commercial At" doesn't sound near as cool as "arroba"

I shall start reading @ as "arroba"!

 

TJ Downes said:

 

I believe it is officially know as the "at" sign, also referred to as the atmark

 

Rob Wilkerson said:

 

Seriously, man. Get a job or something. :-)

 

Aaron Lynch said:

 

TJ, it is now officially known as "arroba"...so says me.

Rob, don't act like you didn't come read this blog post to find out the answer to that eternal question. Admit that is has always plagued you too.

 

Michael Dinowitz said:

 

The ! is called a splat

 

Matt Williams said:

 

I'm thinking about changing my name to be more Web 2.0-like:

m@

 

Aaron Lynch said:

 

Marroba Williams? Has a "nice" ring to it ;)

 

Rob Wilkerson said:

 

(arroba)Aaron:
Damn. I was trying to mask my addiction with denigrating sarcasm. You've seen through my cleverly constructed guise.

(arroba)M(arroba):
I wish I could do something cool like that with Rob. All I have to fall back on is the l33t hax0r version: R08 (I sure hope I got that right). I can feel my mad street cred ebbing rapidly...

 

chuck said:

 

# = octothorpe
~ = tilde
! = bang
` = backtick
| = pipe

 

Aaron Lynch said:

 

Thanks Chuck, more great examples of how other characters get much cooler names than "at sign"!

 

marshall said:

 

If my memory serves me well in days before internet this was called "monkey" since it looks like monkey with long tail. So, what's your e-mail :)))

 

Chris Jordan said:

 

I posted this comment earlier, but it didn't work. Hmm... Anyway, I always call it the "ampersat". "Commercial at" just sounds stupid. But apparently I'm too late as it has now been dubbed the "arrrrrroba" (lots of trill to the 'r' there :o)

Chris

 

Aaron Lynch said:

 

Nice pronunciation of the "arroba"!

I wonder if I should go ahead and alter the wikipedia entry for "@"

 

fernando lopez said:

 

Arroba in Spanish just means pound, not the currency but the weight unit.

I remember from elementary school ( not in the US)

"if Maria has 10@ of grain and sells 3@ how many more does she need to sell?"

When people in spanish ask for your email you still use "Arroba" in the answer and not the translation of "at"

"Mi Email es lopezf Arroba gmail punto com"

I should be working.

 

Aaron Lynch said:

 

Wait, so what you are saying is that "arroba" means pound, so does @ = # in Spanish??!

:)

 

Fernando Lopez said:

 

A little ahead of me

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/arroba

It felt weird when I said Arroba is a pound. It is a unit for measuring but not equal to one pound, more like 25. Still everything else applies.
I found this on the spanish wikipedia as well
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arroba_(s%C3%ADmbolo)
Some of them translated

* en turco, «rosa» (gül) / Turkish «rose»
* en húngaro, «gusano» o «larva» (kukac) /Hungary «worm»
* en griego, «patito» (papi o to pap'aki)/Greek «ducky»
* en ruso, «perrito» (sobachka) /Russian «doggie»
* en chino (putonghua), «ratoncito» (xiao lao shu) o «marca de ratón» (lao shu hao)/ Chinese «mouse» or «mouse's mark»
* en finés, a veces «cola de gato» (kissanhäntä) o «marca miau» (miukumauku), pero usualmente ät-merkki o at-merkki /Finish «cats tail»
* en italiano, «caracol» (chiócciola)
* en afrikáans, «cola de mono» (aapstert) /Afrikaans «Monkey Tail»
* en alemán, «cola de mono» (Klammeraffe o Affenschwanz) / German «Monkey Tail»

* en búlgaro, «monito» (majmunsko) /Monkey Tail
* en frisio, «cola de mono» (apesturtsje) / Monkey Tail
* en holandés, «cola-de-mono» (apenstaartje) / Monkey Tail
* en rumano, «cola de mono» (coada de maimuta) / Monkey Tail
* en serbio, «mono» (majmun) o «a loca» (ludo a) / Monkey Tail


"Mi Email es lopezf Arroba gmail punto com "

See what you started? I spent twice as much time looking for this info. Fun post. :)

 

chuck said:

 

@Michael Dinowitz:
I've heard * called a splat, but never !

@todd sharp:
spelled "caret"

 

Aaron Lynch said:

 

Guys, I'm starting to think about changing the official name from "arroba" to "monkey tail".

There is something strangely appealing about "username monkey tail gmail dot com"

 

Michael Dinowitz said:

 

 

Michael Dinowitz said:

 

Sorry, slip of the keyboard on my part. The ! is the bang, the * is the splat.

 

Adrian J. Moreno said:

 

This morning I got a call from a client's company, it was the new person in charge and she needed some text changed on their website.

I told her to send an e-mail with the changes to "support at {domain}". She said thanks and hung up. A few minutes later, she called back saying that "Outlook says it can't find that address".

I spelled our domain for her again: "that's what I have".

You sent it to "support @"? "Yes, s-u-p-p-o-r-t at".

. . .

"A-t, or the @ symbol?"

"Oh you need the 'at symbol'?"

Now, imagine if I had asked, "a-t or monkey tail?"

 

Peter Boughton said:

 

ARGH!!
# = Hash [sign].
! = Exclamation mark.
* = Asterisk, (or star).

Anyone using "pound", "bang" or "splat" around me risks a demonstration of the actual meanings of these words. :P

 

iceberg wallst said:

 

What is the origin of the '@' sign, and does it have a proper name? Printer Friendly Version

This sign originated as a scribe's quick way of writing the Latin word ad, especially in lists of prices of commodities. It is usually known as 'the at sign' or 'the at symbol', which is good enough for most people. It is sometimes called 'commercial a', and occasionally by the French name arrobe or arroba. It has acquired various nicknames in other languages, but none has so far caught on in English.

 

Chris Jordan said:

 

Wallst, what's your source on that. I can't remember where I read this (and I'll see if I can dig up my source), but in French the the word "at" is spelled 'a' (with an accent). That accent gets added typically after the 'a' is written. People writing fast would tend to drag their pen (or whatever) around when going to add the accent, arriving at what we have today.

I verified the French bits of this with a friend of mine who speaks fluent French. The idea really intrigued him and it's completely plausible. I seem to remember seeing this thing in video format, I can't remember if it was on the internet though. Again, I'll see if I can dig it up. :o)

Chris

 

Chris Jordan said:

 

Wallst, what's your source on that. I can't remember where I read this (and I'll see if I can dig up my source), but in French the the word "at" is spelled 'a' (with an accent). That accent gets added typically after the 'a' is written. People writing fast would tend to drag their pen (or whatever) around when going to add the accent, arriving at what we have today.

I verified the French bits of this with a friend of mine who speaks fluent French. The idea really intrigued him and it's completely plausible. I seem to remember seeing this thing in video format, I can't remember if it was on the internet though. Again, I'll see if I can dig it up. :o)

Chris

 

Rob said:

 

The greatest special character of all time is by far the "Interrobang" which looks like this: ? ( a question mark and an exclamation point combined) It was "invented" back in the 60s. Some of the new Office 2007 fonts support it but most fonts don't.

 

DeAnn said:

 

Thanks, Aaron. It was 15 minutes well spent and you helped me!

 

monkeytail said:

 

OMG... I was looking for some info about the name of (...) and found these posts... I'M CRYING, I'M LAUGHING SO HARD!!!

Thanks for making my dull day a little happy.

 

Rob said:

 

I was catching up on Coding Horror the other day and Jeff offered a similar post with "definitive" answers that made me harken back to this one:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001133.h...

I couldn't help dropping the link here in case anyone's interested.