Ampersand

[slimjim]

Before the advent of email addresses, did we use this much?

[football]

Ampersand has been used lots as in 'the price of cheese @ 99p pound.'

[sylvday]

Are you sure you mean the ampersand - & - sign. This is simply short for "and", and as far as I am aware, isn't used much in email addresses. You're probably thinking of the @ sign, which pre-email was used in shops, markets and in accounting, where it meant "at" - eg "2 shirts @ �10 each"; of course, it still means "at" in email addresses.

[sylvday]

Just in case there's any confusion. @ is NOT the ampersand sign, which is &, and stands for "and". There is no fancy name for @, which stands for "at"; most people in the UK seem to simply call it the "at sign".

[bernardo]

I am confused. What has the ampersand got to do with email addresses? It is derived frokm "and - per se - and" (i.e. and in itself) and it originated as a sort of squiggly combination of "e" and "t" ("et" being the Latin for "and").

[MrIxolite]

I'm confused why you're confused bernardo, after reading the posts before your ;)

[smudge]

Our 2 daughters & I have been using the ampersand sign for years & years & years! It takes up less room & I use it in all my letters.

[smudge]

P.S. Hubby prefers to write the good old plain 'and' though!

[ousgg]

There is some nice info on the @ symbol at http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/atsymb
ol.asp