posted
What is this thing called? @ I know it means 'at', but what is it called? Like, for example, this '&' is an ampersand, but does this, '@', have a name?
Posts: 867 | Registered: Dec 2003
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The @ sign is used in an electronic mail address to separate the local part from the hostname.
It is ironic that @ has become a trendy mark of Internet awareness since it is a very old symbol, derived from the latin preposition "ad" (at).
In Dutch it is called "apestaartje" (little ape-tail). The French name is "arobase". In Spain and Portugal it denotes a weight of about 25 pounds, the weight and the symbol are called "arroba". Italians call it "chiocciola" (snail).
posted
An interesting tidbit -- they recently added @ to morse code -- the first update of morse code in a *long* time.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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