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+--- Thread: What is the meaning of this character? "@" ? (/thread-37237.html)
What is the meaning of this character? "@" ? - Lorraine - 11-09-2012 08:50 PM
Hey!! I certainly don't know what's the meaning of "@" hahah. We usually use this for ourl emails like juandelacruz@yahoo.com right?? Dows any body know what's the meaning of "@"?
- Kevin - 11-09-2012 08:59 PM
It means at
- Hesta - 11-09-2012 08:59 PM
at
- Mrs. Depechefan - 11-09-2012 08:59 PM
At
- Tali - 11-09-2012 08:59 PM
At. Like you would text 'meet you @ park'
xxx
- Damocles - 11-09-2012 08:59 PM
It means "at".
Originally it was coined to mean "each at" and was used for pricing. For example: "apples @ $0.99" - i.e. each apple is $0.99. They didn't want to say "apples $0.99" because that might be interpreted that for $0.99 you were getting "apples", plural (more than one). That's why the circle looks somewhat like a lowercase "e".
Technically speaking "each at" is still a valid meaning, however, now-a-days everyone considers this symbol to mean "at".
- Bert H - 11-09-2012 08:59 PM
The at sign or @ is also commonly called the at symbol or commercial at in English—and much less commonly a wide range of other terms.[1][2][3] The fact that there is no single word in English for the symbol has prompted some writers to use the French arobase[4] or Spanish arroba—or to coin new words such as apserand[3] and ampersat[5]—but none of these has achieved wide currency.
Originally an accounting and commercial invoice abbreviation meaning "at the rate of" (e.g. 7 widgets @ $2 = $14), it was not included on the keyboard of the earliest commercially successful typewriters, but was on at least one 1889 model[6] and the very successful Underwood models from the "Underwood No. 5" in 1900 onward. It is now universally included on computer keyboards.
In recent years, its meaning has grown to include the sense of being "located at" or "directed at", especially in email addresses and social media like Facebook and Twitter.
- Jenny - 11-09-2012 08:59 PM
@ is at.