What is your favorite punctuation mark?

What was "@" used for before email?

Always knew it as the "at" symbol. That's what we were taught, which while e-mail existed then, it wasn't widespread or even often used. So "at" it is.

Now, I use it to make roses. Have one. @~)~~

Quote: Face

Always knew it as the "at" symbol. That's what we were taught, which while e-mail existed then, it wasn't widespread or even often used. So "at" it is.

I recall seeing used in Texas, specifically Houston, early in the 80s to mean "each." There was a supermarket sign stating something like "Milk $1.99 @"

Now, email did exist in the 80s. but when was the @ symbol first used and for what? The & has gotten a lot of use, as have # and *.

Quote:

Now, I use it to make roses. Have one. @~)~~

Thank you :)

Quote: Nareed

I recall seeing used in Texas, specifically Houston, early in the 80s to mean "each." There was a supermarket sign stating something like "Milk $1.99 @"

I always thought that was a mistake that perpetuated. It was common to see a sign that said "bananas @ $ 0.49". That makes sense. But like you, I've also seen the "bananas $0.49 @"

I secretly believe those particular signs are made by the less intelligent, although it could be me who's ignorant

Yeah, @ used to mean each - because it kinda looks like an e with an a inside it. It's not nearly as dumb as putting the $ after the amount.

Personally, I'd vote for the tilde ~ .

¿Has olvidado el signo de interrogación?


There are actually fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar.

The period, question mark, exclamation point, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, parentheses, brackets, braces, quotation marks, and ellipses.

Quote: Pacomartin

There are actually fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar.

The period, question mark, exclamation point, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, parentheses, brackets, braces, quotation marks, and ellipses.

So what are At, Ampersand, Tilde and other marks?

Quote: DJTeddyBear

So what are At, Ampersand, Tilde and other marks?

These symbols are not considered "punctuation" marks. "Punctuation" is solely dividing text clearly so that it is more readable. Most of these marks are shorthand for a concept, or they point to somewhere on the page.

General typography
ampersand &
asterisk *
at sign @
backslash \
bullet •
caret ^
dagger † ‡
degree °
ditto mark ″
number sign, pound, hash, octothorpe #
numero sign №
obelus ÷
ordinal indicator º ª
percent, per mil % ‰
plus and minus + −
basis point ‱
pilcrow ¶
prime ′ ″ ‴
section sign §
tilde ~
underscore, understrike _
vertical bar, pipe, broken bar | ‖ ¦

Intellectual property
copyright ©
sound-recording copyright ℗
registered trademark ®
service mark ℠
trademark ™


Personally I think that the following marks are punctuation, but they aren't used in English.
inverted exclamation mark ¡
inverted question mark ¿

My favorite is the dash - though I treat it like a informal semicolon. The semicolon should be used to separate ideas or points; the dash I believe is to add on a separate idea.