Wow, not what I was expecting. Ten thousand words to tell a story of how the @ symbol was chosen for use in email, a story most of us could probably have guessed. I was expecting to learn the origin of the symbol itself.
Even the author seems to recognize a failure to address the origins, closing with:
How, though, how did the ‘@’ symbol find its way onto the keyboard of Ray Tomlinson’s ASR-33 teletype and so pass into internet history? Moreoever, where did it come from in the first place?
The story is definitely interesting enough (and also told well enough) for those ten thousand words and, as you seem to realize yourself, this is a two-part essay. What you want to be told will be told in the second part.
It’s one part of a two-part essay. I’m really unable to understand why you seem to believe that one part of a two-part issue should include everything you expect from the whole essay.
>To accuse the author of lying because of that is despicable and rude.
Either the OP edited their comment, or you are yourself somewhat off base -- I see no such accusation. And I see no evidence they realized this was a two part article.
I am unable to edit or delete any of my comments more than a few minutes old. I assume this goes in hand with the fact that I can't downvote folk either.
I was more surprised that at no point in the article is it referred to as an "ampersat." I was under the impression that was the name of the symbol. A quick Google search seems to indicate that's the case, too. But I'm far from a typography expert or symbologist. Does anyone know if that is the official name for the character?
English should come up with a word for this symbol. 'ampersat' is a funny derivation but seems reasonable given the other non-existent options. I once went on the radio show 'A Way With Words' and proposed 'atra': short and sounds good.
'Official', in this context, can only mean 'sanctioned by a standards body', which isn't a deciding factor in how words actually get used in a living language.
Yes - it seems to have been there because it was a standard typewriter character, which forces the question, why was it a standard typewriter character?
Even the author seems to recognize a failure to address the origins, closing with:
How, though, how did the ‘@’ symbol find its way onto the keyboard of Ray Tomlinson’s ASR-33 teletype and so pass into internet history? Moreoever, where did it come from in the first place?
In case anyone is curious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sign