Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 alpha 4/15/85; site elsie.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!think!harvard!seismo!elsie!sck From: sck@elsie.UUCP (Steve Kaufman) Newsgroups: net.nlang Subject: Re: question about names for symbols Message-ID: <5153@elsie.UUCP> Date: Mon, 24-Jun-85 16:21:42 EDT Article-I.D.: elsie.5153 Posted: Mon Jun 24 16:21:42 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 27-Jun-85 05:39:08 EDT References: <2041@iddic.UUCP> <2086@sdcrdcf.UUCP> Distribution: net Organization: NIH-LEC, Bethesda, MD Lines: 23 Summary: Is there regional variation in names for special characters? In article <2086@sdcrdcf.UUCP>, barryg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Lee Gold) writes from a site in California: > Yes, I'm used to saying ! as "bang." (And of course ~ is a tilda.) > For the rest, > # is prosaically merely "number." > \ is "backwhack." > ` is "baquote." > | is "vertical" or "pipe." > < and > are "angle brackets"; { and } are "curly brackets." [ and ] are > just "brackets." Maybe this is another example of different ways of speaking in different parts of the country. The symbol names I've heard (along with where I first heard them) are as follows: ! shriek Madison, WI \ backslash " ` grave accent " < > pointy brackets Pittsburgh, PA # pound sign "