Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site jenny.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!epsilon!zeta!sabre!bellcore!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!think!harvard!seismo!mcvax!ukc!kcl-cs!jenny!jbdp From: jbdp@jenny.UUCP (Julian Pardoe) Newsgroups: net.nlang Subject: Re: question about names for symbols Message-ID: <249@jenny.UUCP> Date: Fri, 28-Jun-85 12:44:50 EDT Article-I.D.: jenny.249 Posted: Fri Jun 28 12:44:50 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 1-Jul-85 07:46:47 EDT Organization: U of Cambridge Comp Lab, UK Lines: 36 Xpath: kcl-cs west44 Here's two penn'orth [spelling!!] from the UK: ! pling | bar " (double) quote / slash # hash \ backslash ' (single) quote () (round) brackets ` backquote, open quote [] square brackets ~ twiddle <> angle brackets ^ hat {} curly brackets, braces Pling is supposed to be a BCPLism and so probably originates from the language's inventor, Martin Richards. Another Cambridgeism, but one that seems to have died out, is calling matching bracket pairs `bra' and `ket'. To distinguish them from () Algol68C calls [] `sub' and `bus'. `Slash' has a slightly lavatorial sound in British English so some avoid it. The strangest I've heard were `slant' and `reverse slant'. Julian Pardoe ------------- University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory Corn Exchange Street CAMBRIDGE CB2 3QG Great Britain Tel: 352435 ext. 265 Area code: national: 0223, international +44 223 Arpa: <@ucl-cs: jbdp@cl.cam.ac.uk> Janet: jbdp@UK.AC.Cam.CL