I’m going slightly off topic here and posting bit of a linguistic history lesson today. However, in true Blunted tradition it’s a nugget of wisdom that’s high on satisfaction (e.g. wow, I never knew that), but low on practical use (now I know that what do I do with it?).

The @ sign. A character that, in this internet age of wireless connectivity and global communications, we use every day; dozens of times a week; thousands of times a year.

It’s a character I write/type/speak so often but never stopped to ponder its origins. That was until I blundered across “The Natural History of the @ Sign” by Scott Herron, and now that aspect of my life is complete (thanks to the guys at Design Observer for the link).

I won’t spoil the short-but-sweet story by posting it up here, but I will give you some of the amusing metaphors that non-English-speaking folk use to describe it:

Danish: “snabel” (elephant’s trunk)

Turkish: “kulak” (ear)

Thai: “ai tua yiukyiu” (the wiggling worm-like character)

Dutch: “apeklootje” (little monkey’s testicle)

I can’t wait until the next time I give my email address to a Dutch person…