Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!spool.mu.edu!olivea!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!philapd!ssp9!dolf From: dolf@idca.tds.PHILIPS.nl (Dolf Grunbauer) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: Name that character! (definitive list) Message-ID: <709@ssp9.idca.tds.philips.nl> Date: 5 Jun 91 08:16:19 GMT Article-I.D.: ssp9.709 References: <10599@castle.ed.ac.uk> <1991May29.000449.19048@agate.berkeley.edu> Reply-To: dolf@idca.tds.philips.nl (Dolf Grunbauer) Organization: Philips Information Systems, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands Lines: 191 In article <1991May29.000449.19048@agate.berkeley.edu> raymond@math.berkeley.edu (Raymond Chen) writes: >Why does everyone feel compellet to post their favorite pronunciations? > >In article <10599@castle.ed.ac.uk>, eanv20@castle (John Woods) writes: >>I wonder if there is a definitive list... > >Indeed there is. It used to be part of the comp.unix.questions >Frequently Asked Questions file, but it has since moved into the >`Jargon File'. Many thanks to Maarten Litmath for maintaining >the USENET ASCII Pronunciation Guide for many years. (Though the >list below does seem to be missing some of the cleverer names >in Maarten's list. Like `Donald Duck' for `&'.) > > [ actual list deleted ] I've saved an older version of definitive list of Maarten Litmaath, which includes the `&' for `Donald Duck' and many others. Here it is: ========================================================================== Names derived from UNIX are marked with *, names derived from C are marked with +, names derived from (Net)Hack are marked with & and names deserving futher explanation are marked with a #. The explanations will be given at the very end. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- SINGLE CHARACTERS -- SPACE, blank, ghost& ! EXCLAMATION POINT, exclamation (mark), (ex)clam, excl, wow, hey, boing, bang#, shout, yell, shriek, pling, factorial, ball-bat, smash, cuss, store#, potion&, not*+ " QUOTATION MARK, (double) quote, dirk, literal mark, rabbit ears, double ping, double glitch, amulet&, web& # CROSSHATCH, pound, pound sign, number, number sign, sharp, octothorpe#, hash, fence, crunch, mesh, hex, flash, grid, pig-pen, tictactoe, scratch (mark), (garden)gate, hak, oof, rake, sink&, corridor& $ DOLLAR SIGN, dollar, cash, currency symbol, buck, string#, escape#, ding, big-money, gold& % PERCENT SIGN, percent, mod+, shift-5, double-oh-seven, grapes, food& & AMPERSAND, and, amper, address+, shift-7, andpersand, snowman, bitand+, donald duck#, daemon&, background* ' APOSTROPHE, (single) quote, tick, prime, irk, pop, spark, glitch, lurker above& * ASTERISK, star, splat, spider, aster, times, wildcard*, gear, dingle, (Nathan) Hale#, bug, gem&, twinkle, funny button#, pine cone, glob* () PARENTHESES, parens, round brackets, bananas, ears, bowlegs ( LEFT PARENTHESIS, (open) paren, so, wane, parenthesee, open, sad, tool& ) RIGHT PARENTHESIS, already, wax, unparenthesee, close (paren), happy, thesis, weapon& + PLUS SIGN, plus, add, cross, and, intersection, door&, spellbook& , COMMA, tail, trapper& - HYPHEN, minus (sign), dash, dak, option, flag, negative (sign), worm, bithorpe# . PERIOD, dot, decimal (point), (radix) point, spot, full stop, put#, floor& / SLASH, stroke, virgule, solidus, slant, diagonal, over, slat, slak, across#, compress#, spare, divided-by, wand& : COLON, two-spot, double dot, dots, chameleon& ; SEMICOLON, semi, hybrid, go-on, giant eel& <> ANGLE BRACKETS, angles, funnels, brokets, pointy brackets < LESS THAN, less, read from*, from*, in*, comesfrom*, crunch, sucks, left chevron#, open pointy (brack[et]), bra#, upstairs& > GREATER THAN, more, write to*, into/toward*, out*, gazinta*, zap, blows, right chevron#, closing pointy (brack[et]), ket#, downstairs& = EQUAL SIGN, equal(s), gets, becomes, quadrathorpe#, half-mesh, ring& ? QUESTION MARK, question, query, whatmark, what, wildchar*, huh, ques, kwes, quiz, quark, hook, scroll& @ AT SIGN, at, each, vortex, whirl, whirlpool, cyclone, snail, ape, cat, snable-a#, trunk-a#, rose, cabbage, Mercantile symbol, strudel#, fetch#, shopkeeper&, human& [] BRACKETS, square brackets, U-turns, edged parentheses [ LEFT BRACKET, bracket, bra, (left) square (brack[et]), opensquare, armor& ] RIGHT BRACKET, unbracket, ket, right square (brack[et]), unsquare, close, mimic& \ BACKSLASH, reversed virgule, bash, (back)slant, backwhack, backslat, escape*, backslak, bak, reduce#, opulent throne& ^ CIRCUMFLEX, caret, carrot, (top)hat, cap, uphat, party hat, housetop, up arrow, control, boink, chevron, hiccup, power, to-the(-power), fang, sharkfin, and#, xor+, wok, trap&, pointer#, pipe* _ UNDERSCORE, underline, underbar, under, score, backarrow, flatworm, blank, chain&, gets# ` GRAVE, (grave) accent, backquote, left/open quote, backprime, unapostrophe, backspark, birk, blugle, backtick, push, backglitch, backping, execute#, boulder&, rock&, statue& {} BRACES, curly braces, squiggly braces, curly brackets, squiggle brackets, Tuborgs#, ponds, curly chevrons#, squirrly braces { LEFT BRACE, brace, curly, leftit, embrace, openbrace, begin+, fountain& } RIGHT BRACE, unbrace, uncurly, rytit, bracelet, close, end+, a pool& | VERTICAL BAR, pipe*, pipe to*, vertical line, broken line#, bar, or+, bitor+, vert, v-bar, spike, to*, gazinta*, thru*, pipesinta*, tube, mark, whack, gutter, wall& ~ TILDE, twiddle, tilda, tildee, wave, squiggle, swung dash, approx, wiggle, enyay#, home*, worm, not+ -- MULTIPLE CHARACTER STRINGS -- !? interrobang (one overlapped character) /* slashterix+, slashaster */ asterslash+, times-div# <- gets << left-shift+, double smaller >> appends*, cat-astrophe, right-shift+, double greater -> arrow+, pointer to+, hiccup+ #! sh'bang, wallop \!* bash-bang-splat () nil# && and+, and-and+, amper-amper, succeeds-then* || or+, or-or+, fails-then* -- NOTES -- ! bang comes from old card punch phenom where punching ! code made a loud noise; however, this pronunciation is used in the (non- computerized) publishing and typesetting industry in the U.S. too, so ... ! store from FORTH # octothorpe from Bell System $ string from BASIC $ escape from TOPS-10 & donald duck from the Danish "Anders And", which means "Donald Duck" * splat from DEC "spider" glyph * Nathan Hale "I have but one asterisk for my country." * funny button at Pacific Bell, * was referred to by employees as the "funny button", which did not please management at all when it became part of the corporate logo of Pacific Telesis, the holding company ... */ times-div from FORTH = quadrathorpe half an octothorpe - bithorpe half a quadrathorpe (So what's a monothorpe?) . put Victor Borge on Electric Company / across APL / compress APL < left chevron from the military: worn vertically on the sleeve to signify rating < bra from quantum mechanics > right chevron see "< left chevron" > ket from quantum mechanics @ snable-a from Danish; may translate as "trunk-a" @ trunk-a "trunk" = "elephant nose" @ strudel as in Austrian apple cake @ fetch from FORTH \ reduce APL ^ and from formal logic ^ pointer from PASCAL _ gets some alternative representation of underscore resembles a backarrow ` execute from shell command substitution {} Tuborgs from advertizing for well-known Danish beverage {} curly chevr. see "< left chevron" | broken line EBCDIC has two vertical bars, one solid and one broken. ~ enyay from the Spanish n-tilde () nil LISP -- _ _ / U | Dolf Grunbauer Tel: +31 55 433233 Internet dolf@idca.tds.philips.nl /__'< Philips Information Systems UUCP ...!mcsun!philapd!dolf 88 |_\ "What we need is my invention of the 99 cents coin" (Steve Rhoades)