2007-01-03 06:44:42 · 20 answers · asked by fuzzy1 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
the AT symbol
2007-01-03 06:49:07 · answer #1 · answered by i_like_bears 4 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Never believe everything in the Wikipedia. The sign is "at" and is, in fact, a stylised form of the word "at" with the "t" wrapping round the "a". It comes from the days of handwritten ledgers and prices and has been around for a very long time.
Ampersand, the "&" symbol, gets its name from the old way children recited the alphabet. The symbol was in common use in writing in schools and was known as "and". At the end of the alphabet, the children would say "and, per se, 'and' ". This expression was contracted to "ampersand" and the name stuck for the symbol. There has never been an expression "and, per se, 'at' " so "ampersat" never evolved that way.
Since the arrival of email, it seems that people want a word other than the perfectly good "at" for the symbol and the unnecessary neologism "ampersat" has been coined. Ignore it, stick with "at" and everyone will now what you are talking about.
2007-01-03 15:47:35 · answer #2 · answered by tentofield 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The @ is called an ampersat - There is a nice article on Wikipedia that talks about the symbol and lists some of the many names it has, including some in other languages.
2007-01-03 14:56:15 · answer #3 · answered by Sophie 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There's a little bit of confusion here.
The & sign is the ampersand
The @ sign is the ampersat.
According to Wikipedia, the @ sign "is often referred to informally as the at symbol, the at sign, the ampersat, or just at. It has the official name commercial at in the ANSI/CCITT/Unicode character encoding standards."
So there you go.
2007-01-03 15:20:41 · answer #4 · answered by Whoosher 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
It means "AT". It doesn't have a name. It's not called an "ampersand", as that is the name for the "&" symbol, which means "AND".
2007-01-03 14:53:06 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Known as the 'at' symbol even pre-net:
4 pears @ 5 pence a piece
and more formally as the Ampersat
2007-01-03 14:49:12 · answer #6 · answered by Oldbeard 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Ampersat I think you mean
Apart from being called the "at" symbol it is also informally referred to as the ampersat. But its official name is "commercial at" in the ANSI/CCITT/Unicode character encoding standards.
2007-01-04 07:43:32 · answer #7 · answered by Confused 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It is called a "commerical A," at least in English.
There is no such thing as an "ampersat." Note no other reliable sources are listed other than Wikipedia.
"At" is the function, not the name.
2007-01-03 15:53:14 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Ampersand.
2007-01-03 15:02:35 · answer #9 · answered by anna 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
@ sign
Pronounced at sign or simply as at, this symbol is used in e-mail addressing to separate the user’s name from the user’s domain name, both of which are necessary in order to transmit e-mails.
2007-01-03 14:49:27 · answer #10 · answered by beckett 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋