Between Twitter and email, the @ symbol is probably the character I type the most (unless we're including punctuation marks, because I am a very bad overuser of the exclamation point). I've always loved its swirlyness, even in the pre-Internet days when I wasn't really sure what it ever got used for.
In grad school, I came across it in medieval manuscripts I was transcribing for a class, which was kind of neat. (Transcription is hard work; I totally get why those scribes wanted a little shortcut!)
The current issue of Smithsonian has a nice little history of the @ symbol. Did you know the Dutch call it the "monkey tail"? I think I'm going to start using that.
If you are a punctuation/typography nerd like me, you can read the full article here: The Accidental History of the @ Symbol
PS: SciFi fans, Smithsonian.com also has a neat article about ten inventions inspired by Science Fiction, including the cell phone.
11 comments:
Very nerdy! And yet, I love. Because I am a nerd. Love.
Cool! Great idea for a post.
Very interesting and very nerdy. :) I'll have to read that article! Yesterday I was making a packing list on my computer and decided that it needed to be in a cool font. The font I chose had THE coolest ampersand that I have ever seen. I swear I couldn't stop staring at it. So, I guess that makes me a bit of a font nerd, right? :)
This little post totally made me smile. I love nerdy grammar factoids like this. Thanks for sharing, Rebecca!
Umm, yep. THIS is one of the MANY reasons I LOVE stopping by your blog! Very fascinating! Also, how do you stumble across this stuff?!
Love this nerdy post. You always have the most interesting stuff to post about. I'm excited to get my arc this week :) and hopefully you have a little time to stop by my blog,I blogged about beta readers which is always a little helpful thing ;o) haha
So cool, thanks for sharing, Rebecca!
Interesting that the email creator just wanted a little-used symbol, but @ ended up fitting so well.
I love origin stuff...sayings, words, grammer...I'm a total nerd about those things too...unfortunately, it would be more useful to be a tech nerd, which I'm not.
I wish I were more of a tech nerd, too!
Very cool! Thanks for sharing. Love learning about stuff like this.
I just let my Smithsonian subscription lapse after ten plus years-- and now I feel like it was a HUGE mistake. These stories look amazing. They should send a bonus to you when I re-subscribe. :0)
Post a Comment