commercial at
<character> "@". ASCII code 64. Common names: at sign, at, strudel. Rare:
each, vortex, whorl, INTERCAL: whirlpool, cyclone, snail, ape, cat, rose,
cabbage, amphora. ITU-T: commercial at.
The @ sign is used in an electronic mail address to separate the local part from
the hostname. This dates back to July 1972 when Ray Tomlinson was designing the
first[?] e-mail program.
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).
Giorgio Stabile, a professor of history in Rome, has traced the symbol back to
the Italian Renaissance in a Roman mercantile document signed by Francesco Lapi
on 1536-05-04.
In Dutch it is called "apestaartje" (little ape-tail), in German "affenschwanz"
(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).
See @-party.
(2003-04-28)
Nearby terms:
COMMEN « comment « comment out « commercial at »
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