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Subject:What's a @? From:Rick Klopp <rklopp -at- VNET -dot- IBM -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 9 May 1995 12:08:38 CST
Strictly speaking, '@' is a symbol meaning 'at.' (See Chicago,
14th ed., section 14.55, and Webster's Coll. Dict. 10th ed., page
1531.) Literate people (including typing teachers) say 'at-sign,'
so what's the problem?
:trivia on.
The German for '@' is 'Klammeraffe,' which means 'spider monkey.'
My E2L colleagues here sometimes say 'monkey tail' when they
mean 'at-sign.'
:trivia off.
Rick Klopp
Speech Recognition Information Development
IBM Austria - Vienna Software Development Laboratory
ID: rklopp_monkeytail_vnet.ibm.com
Disclaimer: my views are my own, not my employer's.
