Monday, September 28, 2009

An "@" by any other name ...

We in America call the "@" the "at" symbol. Other languages/countries use more colorful expressions:
  • Czech (Czech Republic): Závinaĉ, which means a herring wrapped around a pickle.
  • Danish: Snabel-a, "elephant’s trunk."
  • Dutch: Apestaartje, "little monkey’s tail."
  • Hebrew: Shablul or Shablool, "snail" or Shtrudl, "strudel."
  • Hugarian: Kukac, "worm or maggot."
  • Italian: Chiocciola, "Snail."
  • Mandarin Chinese (Taiwan): Xiao Lao Shu, "little mouse," or Lao Shu Hao, "mouse sign."
  • Russian: Sobachka, "doggie."
  • Thai: Ai tua yiukyiu, "wiggling worm."

From “Send : The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home” by David Shipley and Will Schwalbe.

Anyone know other creative terms for "@" in other languages?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

in Spanish and Portuguese, @ is called "arroba" and was originally a measure of weight and is now just used as the "at symbol"

wag said...

Indonesian: "a keong" that means "snail a"